Overlord: The Divine Abstraction
by Zemptai
Summary: Two continents in the New World, separated by a ocean that's feared, leaving the world divided. The player Ainz is not alone in this expanse world. The Yggdrasil Guild "Cryptic", A guild with a renown 'Bug Abuse' team, arrive in New World on the other continent with their own vision of an ideal world. Two guild's, an intertwined destiny, and answers. [OC's] (*Temp. Hiatus*)
1. Chapter 1 - The Beginning of the End

Overlord: The Divine Abstraction - Chapter 1

Author: Zemptai

 **IMPORTANT NOTICE \- PLEASE READ:** **This series is a Fan Rendition, attempting to stay as true as possible to the available source material,(up to LN volume 13 as I post this) while adding to and extending the story. THERE WILL BE OC's, BUT IF YOU GIVE ME THE CHANCE, I MIGHT STILL PULL YOU INTO THE STORY.**

 **I have a plot outline for 6 Volumes (Yes I said Volumes.) of material, so I hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

Basic's for my Stylistic Formatting:

"Dialog."

\- "Unformatted dialog"

"Dialog and _emphasized dialog._ "

\- " _Italic_ mixed with unformatted dialog _"_

" **Overly Loud Dialog/Speeches."**

\- **"Bold"**

" _Internal monologue."_

\- _"only Italic"_

[Use of 'Items/Abilities']

\- [Bracketed names]

 _[Reference to 'Items/Abilities']_

\- [Bracketed, _Italic,_ and underlined names]

Type of _emphasized words_ in text.

\- _Italic_ mixed with text.

(POV: Swap/Announcement)

\- (Parenthesis with tag: 'POV')

* * *

 **Chapter 1 - The Beginning of the End**

Chapter 1: Part 1

(POV: Aster)

 _"I've never pissed in God's face before... but my virtual experience has taught me that trying is pretty damn fun."_

Aster felt his mood shift as dopamine surged through his brain.

Today was his opportunity to ascend into a legendary status, gaining fame and respect, but even more important was the opportunity to diminish the achievements of the teams of shitty developers and programmers.

Industrial Illusions created an Artificial General Intelligence or AGI, which was capable of serving as a makeshift ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) once teams of AI technicians were employed to manually accept all reasonable AGI memory location requests.

It was the first AGI capable of performing close to an ASI since the accidental creation of the 'Singularity,' which was wiped out with a magnetic pulse wave after it's dangerous cyber crusade. Ever since the incident, the United Nations immediately outlawed the development of ASI's, and any offenders would be treated as global terrorists.

What's even more incredible, this monumental innovation which cleverly sidestepped the ban and criminalization of ASI research was created specifically for MMOs (or Massively-Multiplayer Online games) to nearly completely automate Yggdrasil's bug discovery, patching, and player bans.

Aster paced around his home office with a furrowed brow, each footstep landing with a _click_ on the mahogany floorboards. He was still wearing the formal attire from the meeting he had earlier. It seemed like everything was coming along nicely in his life.

The office space contained a parnian spiral desk with a glossy finish, and beside this was a modernized and modded game terminal, his eyes kept returning to it like it held untold secrets.

"Things are only going so smoothly thanks to foresight and planning. I must not abandon what has gotten me _this_ far." he spoke to himself.

He felt pride in his ability to remain undetected thus far, regardless of all the resources spent by Yggdrasil's company to detect rule violators. His excitement caused him to instinctively lick his lips.

 _"Phase 2 must be completed today... Please... No matter what."_

Offering up a silent prayer to any god that would listen, the realization dawned on him as he clenched his fist and grit his teeth.

 _"Religion only served to explain glorious misunderstandings... nothing more."_

His heartbeat increased in tempo startling him. Getting so hot-headed from something so _dumb_ was more in character of someone like Nick than himself.

 _"A casual stroll through a lunatic asylum can help us realize faith doesn't prove anything"_

The paraphrased quote he remembered from his time studying human psychology illicited a warm sensation. Remembering this always seemed to set his heart at ease in these kinds of situations. He nodded to himself, attempting to provoke the return of his soothing clarity. He would reclaim it fully starting by avidly controlling his breathing then utilize the _visualization_ training Felrick had spoken so highly about.

He retreated to his envisioned 'happy place'. He found himself diving deep into his psyche, the retreat sparked an even warmer and slightly tingly sensation throughout his entire body, especially his face.

The vision of crowds of adoring and cheering people were gathered in the stands of a colossal Colosseum, they congratulated the group in a deafening roar of shouts and erratic stomping in the stands on their victory, _his_ victory.

His feet seemed stuck to the earth, unable to move them like they were adhered to the stone floor, but he pushed himself harder, waving and pumping up the crowd with more enthusiasm and pride than ever before - excluding his child's birth.

 _"I would have never had daydreams this lucid without assistance… I must remember to thank 'him'."_

His feet sunk into the ground holding him hostage. Deeper and deeper he sunk as if the ground was quicksand, but consciously accepting the triumph, he let out a forceful cry of victory.

The vision Felrick and he himself saw on that first day since the announcement, now actualized within his mind's eye.

His knees gave way to the gravity and pressure bearing down on him from the roars and eyes of the crowd, now bent placing him into a squat.

Almost as if the squat was a prerequisite, his entire body sifted and fell through the earth like a ghost.

Light began twisting, bending, and folding, as he experienced the exhilarating free-fall through his mind. A melody of sound and aroma surrounded him, but as he fell the surroundings opened up from a hole, and he found himself thousands of feet in the air. He was falling from the sky.

Surely, his dopamine levels now soared to new heights thanks to the enhanced clarity of the daydream.

" **Aghhhhh yeeeeaa-aa-ahhh!"**

The ragged wind nipped at his cheeks and rustled his clothes, the sensation feeling spectacular. It whistled moving past his ears, he couldn't hear the sound of his own voice, drowned out by the intense wind.

He continued his free-fall as he spotted a cityscape beneath him. Recognizing the layout, he flexed his mind changing his trajectory from what would have been the central parks large pond, to an uber modernized skyscraper which seemed to be made completely of some glass-like material.

Light reflected from the material making it impossible to peer through it, but the design undoubtedly allowed you to see out from the interior. The material acting like a one way mirror.

The roof became larger and larger in his perspective until there would be but seconds before he would certainly crash into it. The building was the immovable object, and his body was the less than unstoppable force -but he didn't _splat_. Instead, he phased through the roof and he consciously canceled all of his momentum, leaving him suspended in midair before descending like a feather into an empty chair.

The vision he was now gawking at was that of an immaculate corporate corner office, it was too expensively decorated to be anyone except an extremely wealthy and powerful someone's. Their position implied to be very integral to the company, anyone with such an office would be held in high regard.

The walls sporting various art and gaming merchandise, some centuries old, but without any semblance of a unifying theme.

His glance stopped on the only piece which seemed to have any reason for being here, a poster of Gabe Newell the IV encased in armor as the base, holding up several figures ranging from human to heteromorphic in an inverted pyramid.

" _He fancies himself the base of Yggdrasil heh? When the rug is pulled out from him, he'll know how arrogant it was to believe something so idiotic."_

Aster looked away then back to the other decorations for the room. In his honest opinion, the rest of the collection appeared to be nothing more than a clever ploy to disguise the office owners lack of taste. The office's owner must have intended to hide the fact, but it wouldn't escape Aster's discerning eyes.

He glared at the visage of the man who sat on the other side of the room, behind the desk, staring into the glowing hologram transfixer screen manifested by the technology mounted to the ceiling.

Aster had heard many stories about this particular man, Gabe Newell the IV, the stories suggesting he was an intelligent yet shrewd project manager for the company 'Industrial Illusions.'

 _"I may have made a mistake."_ Imagining himself in such close proximity, made bile rise in the back of his throat like a polluted stream gushing into a gulf. A horrendously unpleasant feeling, he forced himself to swallow.

The door flew open as a secretary burst through, the door should have slammed against the wall it was opened with such force, but some force stopped it in its tracks inches from the wall.

The female hurried into the room leading several individuals into the office, the former and latter all wearing formal business attire.

"Social media is blowing up with content from bug abusers from Yggdrasil. They managed to clear the final dungeon, and..." The woman spokesperson gulped trying to set her heart at ease before finishing with "We have many of our investors and clients calling in with concern..."

The team-members looked amongst their ranks fearful of their boss. A truly terrifying man.

Gabe Newell folded his hands together and shut his eyes. Hope welled up inside the team, the wholehearted desire for him to accept their defeat laying down.

Gabe opened his eyes, jerking out of his seat.

 **"Uhrghaaah!"**

The man flung all the materials and instruments off his desk with both arms causing them to fall to the floor with metallic pings and crashes. The developers retreated with panicked steps backward, one even backed himself against the wall knocking off a framed poster.

Seeing this, Aster's eyes shone brilliantly with a kind of sadistic joy, the kind only shown when witnessing the peril of someone you hate.

The boss behind the desk glared at the employee, the man stricken with panic tried fervently and with incredible speed to set the frame back into its proper place.

"Sorry sir!" the man cried out.

The boss's face contorted with absolute rage. This incompetent underling's behavior seemed to only pouring gas into the flame. Gabe's rampage had only begun.

He scrunched his eyes together and crouched down leveraging his hands beneath the lip of his desk, then with surprising brawn, he pulled exploding upward. The audience became wide-eyed as they witnessed the desk topple over onto its side.

He whipped his head around at his employees in a frenzy, most spectators with distinct tale-tale signs of fear visible in their faces and posture.

"Worthless! The whole damned lot of you!"

 _"Enough! Have a good trip you inbred twat!"_

Gabe leaped into the air over the desk but his shoe caught the lip as he traveled over it, struggling to pull his body into proper landing form, Aster's mouth curled into an unsightly devilish grin.

Before touching down the man miraculously managed to force his body into a less-than-proper, yet still skillful landing form. Stumbling, the boss placed a hand on the ground and bent his knees settling himself after touchdown.

Aster's grin turned to a frown. He had intended to make him trip, but it seemed lucid daydreams were a more complex beast to master than he may have originally expected.

 _"Even with the aid of cognitive enhancement prescriptions, I don't have full control…Wild."_

The suited executive swiveled his head to the side, to the chair Aster was sitting in.

Goosebumps manifested in his arms while a chilling, sinking, and embarrassing feeling washed over him, dousing his volatile emotions. He would have never accepted this feeling willingly, even in this imaginative dream-like realm, which was a projection of his psyche, he didn't want this man to win -Not even a small victory.

 _"Men like him deserved no such thing."_

Aster's body betrayed his resolve, he instinctually leaped from the chair like the seat suddenly transformed into a hot stovetop.

Gabe stomped his way over with heavy steps, arriving at the chair which Aster had vacated just moments ago, then wrapped his arms around it, picking it up with a bear-hug-like grasp.

His muscles flexed flinging it into the wall, but the chair was too sturdily constructed to break that easy. It rebounded off the wall with a loud metallic 'CLAAAP' than striking the ground with a CRASH.

An armrest cracked and broke from the chair after hitting the floor, yet still remained attached thanks to being fastened to it at two separate locations, some of the wheels on the bottom of the chair still spinning round-and-round quickly making a _whirring_ noise.

Gabe's breathing staggered but as he looked around the room, the now cowering forms of his employees helped him rein in his destructive impulses. All the introspection and calming techniques this _'genius'_ was no doubt employing, or at least attempted to, did allow him to pull himself back from escalating any further, yet it still couldn't stop him from biting into his lip.

Aster watched as a trail of blood slid and trickled down the corner of the inbreds mouth onto his cheek.

 _"A delusion of grandeur, but grandeur nonetheless."_

Asters mouth stretched back into a joyous yet devious grin at the scene. Elation surged through him, coursing through his very veins, the experience was nothing short of incredible.

An angelic chorus rang acoustically through to every corner of his mind. The choir he recognized as cloned voices of his beloved, some whispering while others sang.

The scene before him vanished and replaced itself with an extravagant indoor pool with numerous women scantily dressed all seemingly enjoying the retreat. All the women looked completely identical, yet they all wore different bathing suits.

 _"Yes, this is a true escapist paradise, it couldn't be complete without my beloved in all her glory, and I made so many of her. If only I could live in such a world."_

Aster closed his eyes -which ironically was actually the action of opening his eyes in reality.

The vision alone was nearly enough to allow him to die a satisfied and fulfilled man. The finish line was still some distance away, but the image of crossing it like an Olympic sprinter served to reaffirm his motivation. All the work he put in up to this point would pay off, he would see to it personally.

Now finding himself back in the comfort of his office again, he stared at the custom modded terminal in front of him as he plugged himself into the contraption, which also served as a type of reclining chair.

"No more dreaming... Now, It's time for action."

* * *

(POV: Aster)

Yggdrasil, a once prominent MMO superpower whose name was renown among the world, was experiencing a decline in concurrent and monthly players. The game's history stretched 12 years but the game's development team announced the servers were finally shutting down in the year of 2138 A.D.

The shutdown was scheduled for today at midnight GMT (+9), but the announcement itself was released to the general public 29 days ago. The announcement also included the reveal of the final dungeon which was unveiled. It was rumored to be big enough to be an entire world on its own.

Dungeon instances typically held a max of 36 players, but this fabled dungeon had unlimited entry slots. With the ability to hold every player in the game within its instance, the Yggdrasil's 10th world proxy stepped boldly into the forefront of players' attention.

' _One for all_ ' was a status tag for a rule modification for the entirety of the dungeon except the final Boss room.

The tag caused Area of Effect, or 'AoE' damage, to harm all possible targets, however, did 1/4th damage to those in within their own raid group.

The PvP consequences had modifications as well. For example, karma totals being entirely unaffected in the instance.

The dungeon was multi-combat enabled, so massing with area of effect damage trying to rush through the dungeon was impossible, you would end up killing way more people than monsters. In addition, after death, all items would be dropped onto the ground with no item or skill protection to safeguard an item after death. Because of this, many medium tier guilds would enter just to loot drops from players, and many high leveled guilds would bring looters of their own to reclaim their gear.

These rules have scattered the World Level Items on the servers across many guilds. The charts showing the most owned WLI's by guild has changed drastically. Seraphim was known to have lost 5 of 6 known world level items they once possessed to various guilds which showed up in a massive 'Death Dot.'

A Death Dot is an action of stacking all character avatars on top of each other. This is achieved by logging out all at the same coordinates, at separate times, then logging back in at nearly the same time. It was a common and fruitful strategy, yet often difficult to conduct successfully.

When performed correctly it only looks like one person logs in, both on the mini-map and visually. The only real counter for this strategy was a well-divided team that responded with AoE abilities of their own.

The clan could also potentially unstack themselves, but you can't rely on the idiocy and mistakes of others, at least not consistently.

Punishment for their arrogance, Seraphim was stripped of their pride and honor causing several members to become disheartened and quit.

Common sense would now dictate a guild's treasury would be the safest location to store WLIs. Vault security made people predictable, and with this widespread 'accepted truth', Aster and Felrick hatched a deviously brilliant plan.

They combined several smaller ideas into one with 2 active phases. If both phases were executed successfully, the question would not be 'if they would become famous and gain notoriety for their exploit,' but instead 'how famous can an unknown gaming group become overnight for a single exploit.'

The most ironic part of it all would be the developers would be tricked into handing over a key to their own damnation.

 _"Sweet poetic justice."_

* * *

Chapter 1: Part 2

(POV: Aster)

A Sturdy whitewashed fortress joined the sky and the land in a mediated union. The stark comparison to the expansive meadow and the fortress which sat atop it was a true testimony of wonder even in its final hours. This fortress that inspired awe, served as the headquarters for the Guild of "Cryptic". Numerous lavish external ornaments were affixed to the grand structure adorning their guild crest, the crest sporting an octacube as their representation of something beyond human understanding.

Inside the castle, which stood elevated far above the cityscape and fortress base beneath, a cluster of individuals was circled together tightly speaking in a murmured hush. The figures couldn't help but survey their own group.

Many eyes scanned across their numbers until all eyes rested on a single man which had stepped out of the circle into the center of attention. **"It shouldn't be much longer, as soon as the GM's approve our request we will have our opportunity to be immortalized"** Felrick announced.

The crowd burst into applause as another man shouted over the loud roar and claps "we're going down in history!"

Unlike the rest, Felrick seemed to be stripped bare of equipment, wearing only the undergarments which came standard on his avatar.

The room and adjoining rooms were spacious with a open floor plan that was well conceived. The floors were covered with decorative rugs and floating orbs serving as light sources, and off to each side was a staircase, both leading to the bases higher floors.

The elven projectile specialist Aster, in his cursed black dragon-leather armor set, had an arm draped over the shoulders of a female encased in an ornamental pure white plate armor set. A golden hue escaped from between gaps in the plates arrangements. The hue's cosmetic effect could certainly capture the hearts of those entranced by artistic beauty.

He pulled his face as close as possible, careful not to make contact with her helmet.

"Did you think with all this excitement I could forget?" Aster whispered to her so no one else would overhear.

She turned to him, the woman's full helm spontaneously dematerialized exposing her face which was close enough for him to lick. Her platinum blonde hair cascaded past her shoulders and complimented the soft features of her face, her pointed ears, and the deep violet eyes he swore could peer into his soul with just a warm penetrating glance. Unable to ignore his wife's beauty, even if they were only inside their favorite DMMO-RPG, Aster seemed lost in time in appreciation.

She lifted a finger to his mouth. A signal not lost to him as a declaration of silence to which he obeyed. It would seem this would have to wait, he would sit through this meeting going through the motions even if it wasn't intended for him, but for the guild members left outside the loop.

The applause died down as the guild master managed to project his voice without any mouth movement.

"So how is this going to work?"

Felrick rubbed his eyes while his face rested in his palm. His hope that the people around him understood his inability to leak Intel was betrayed by this question.

"We already told everyone we can't go over the specifics, we will provide direction when necessary!"

Aster felt a smug smile drag across his face even if its appearance maintained unchanged, after all, inside of Yggdrasil this action was impossible.

He could sense the confusion emanating from the group.

"Okay, but I'm still not understanding why the change affects the ability to get into guilds treasuries? All I've heard is what Dekar has told me."

 _"They don't have a clue to our true intentions yet."_

Felrick gazed at the man who was so vocally opposed to the idea of being left in the dark. That man was the bonafide Guild master of "Cryptic", which made it that much more important to let him down easy.

"Even Dekar doesn't know. We'll let everyone in on everything as soon as we can, but in the meantime just anticipate the surprise!"

"So many questions... zero answers," The guild master managed to say through a winded sigh.

The guild master fidgeted with the an item in his hand, compulsively spinning it without end.

The group fell silent as Felrick approached Aster. A painted notification appeared signaling the system warning to inform players of an upcoming update.

Updates force-logout all players for about 1 to 10 seconds, depending on how long the update takes to download and install. The notification also displayed a countdown timer which showed [00:29:57].

The guild master burst into laughter as a sense of eagerness rose from all the members of "Cryptic" which assembled here. The guild hadn't been so lively in quite some time, so by connecting the dots, the members could infer why guild master Tom was in such high spirits despite their treasured game coming to an end.

 _"Nostalgia can create a rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows in a person as they battle through their memories. It's no wonder."_

Tom pulled up his console and typed ferociously while others took note in a less literal fashion.

Aster had seen this type of thing on several occasions. The fanatic often took notes but the enthusiasm he had on display was a rarity only helping to build tension leading up to their mission.

"What are you writing this time?"

 _"Not that I care, but keeping up appearances... probably necessitated the formality."_

"I'm writing the final chapter, after all, Felrick promised it would be our best one yet."

Aster who remained unconcerned nudged his head into his wife Kashka's neck regaining her attention.

"What behbs?"

"We can do a lot with 30 minutes."

Aster could tell his seductive tone burrowed into her mind, but unexpectedly she dinked him on the head with her sword causing no damage, nevertheless, it let out a harmonious ring.

"What am I, Big Ben—?"

"—I still have to send the sitter the schedule for tonight and call Poki Poki to get her online."

She lifted her sword up again, but Aster realizing early lifted his arms up causing Kashka to giggle.

"Then book us an extra hour for after shutdown."

"Uhh... Okay, I guess I'll let them know to stay until 2am then, yeah?"

"Sounds fantastic."

"Kay!"

Kashka vanished like her existence was only a figment of imagination. The players having understood she had logged out to take care of real life responsibilities continued on as normal.

Aster jolted to attention, he couldn't help startling jumping as his vision came back to focus on the bare and hairy chest before his eyes, rippling with well defined muscles. The presence of a hand in front of his face had brought him back to the virtual reality. Felrick, The Dragonborn Knight without any equipment, was poised in front of him, about to snap noticed his return back.

"Perfect, alrighty... let's get everyone in position!"

* * *

(POV: Aster)

Eleven of "Cryptic's" guild members lurked within a seemingly barren wasteland, the majority of which had already dumped their inventories into the guild's treasury vault leaving them empty.

The wasteland was free of any prowling npc's, thus little chance of accidentally pulling aggro of any enemy's onto them. A humongous boulder commonly mistook for a mountain on these plains stood conspicuously in the desolate area.

All members seemed to have a significant quality drop in their gear from what they were accustomed to wearing which highlighted the potential danger of the situation.

 _"Hmm... Ambushes were quite common when several combatants group too close to a rival guild base. We'll need to stay alert."_

The update notification showed [00:02:21] signaling barely over two minutes remaining before the forced logout. Aster caught Felrick staring at him which prompted him to take a step closer.

"It's almost time for the update. Do you have the coords saved in your console so we can start right after?"

"Does a bear shit in the woods?"

The rhetorical question was poised to inspire a response.

Felrick looked at Aster, then made a hand gesture to wave off the joke. Seeing this, Dekar instantly jumped on his fleeting opportunity.

"I've seen Tom shit in the woods before and take it from me when I tell you he is a _LARGE_ and _HAIRY_ man!"

"Does that answer your question?"

Aster couldn't hold back from cracking up. The absurdity of the joke wasn't lost on him.

A string of emoticons was produced from the group, each making a small _ding_ noise as they appeared.

Felrick raised an arm as high as he could before making a fist. He began a punching motion towards his own head, stopping repeatedly each time before finally answering the question.

"Yeah...With _excruciating_ detail."

Felrick pulls his hands up and throws his face into his hands sliding them down until they fall off, now making eye contact with Dekar.

Felrick still seemed to be thinking of something as he paced back and forth in front of Dekar.

"... Really, you knew i'd visualize it, didn't you?" Felrick asked.

Dekar starts doing a little dance. "You'll always get the hands from me during our meme contests and dance battles. Either meme with the best or get shut down like the rest."

"-Shouldn't I be the one with the coordinates?"

Aster adjusted his field of view to include the person which had just spoken. Poki Poki, the In-game name of the player equipped from head to toe in traditional bland academic robes, continued with "After all I'm the one casting the spell!"

"Women, _especially you_ —aren't to be trusted with such key information," Aster said.

The light mocking tone no doubt dealt her slight emotional damage, evident through her attempts to wail on him with her staff. Thankfully, the absence of friendly fire saved him from taking any damage once again.

"Kashka are you just going to let him say things like that!" Poki exclaimed in a high pitch shriek.

Kashka bounced over to her in two short bunny-like hops then patted her head with a different yet still snow-white gauntlet equipped hand.

"If he actually meant anyone except _just you_ , I _might've_ have chastised him."

Kashka paused waiting for a response, but all Poki could manage was to tremble. Aster knew well what she was experiencing. After all, Kashka was just too damn adorable. She needed no effort to embody adorableness. The fact being, he considered it a god given gift. If God did exist, surely this was evidence. After all, coincidence couldn't serve to explain all of life's mysteries.

Felrick returned back through teleportation then initiated a trade request with Poki Poki. He needed to give her the Item that would make it all possible, as long as the update works of course.

The trade was successful as no doubt the World Level Item, _[Perception of Divinity]_ , had found its new home in her inventory. The timer was winding down quickly, now only 10 seconds remaining.

Counting down continually, the timer then reached the final 5 seconds.

"5! ... 4!" one of the members began counting down.

 **"3! ... 2! ... 1! ... -"** Everyone now joining in on the fun, chanted together until everything cut to black.

There was no sinking feeling in his gut like he was falling. Aster sat alone suspended in an expansive dark abyss from which no substance could be found. He waited a brief moment to see the signal. A quick flash of light appeared and vanished as quickly as it came.

"Link start!"

A _whooshing_ noise sounded and echoed in the unending dark nothingness that surrounded him until the noise grew louder and his surroundings began to bend and transform. The light moved in all directions around him. The light was not limited to mere linear paths as it branched out morphing to new colors, forming the terrain he had just left behind. The neural vocalization command was recognized by the terminal which logged him into the game.

The first of the group to log in after the update wasn't him, he noticed several of his comrades already waiting. Several more of his guild-mates followed suit, appearing from thin air.

Members' one by one had signed back in, all now materialized around him.

Aster pulled up his console so that Poki Poki could see the coordinates which were saved in his notes.

Realizing that his console was set to private, He quickly changed the setting to public —allowing it to be visible to all party members that had their own settings for console view set to public.

She copied the coordinates with a touch of her finger and executed the spell [Ward of Observation] to said coordinates.

The momentary silence was shattered by Poki's exclaim, "Seems to function as intended! We now have eyes!"

Cheers rang out among the assembled as their beacon of hope shined more brilliantly than ever.

Felrick didn't join in on this celebration. Aster knew him well and could tell he thought it to be far too early.

Now that they had established vision inside the area, they must confirm that the personal instance was actually fully loaded, not just a workaround requiring detailed coding by the shitty devs.

The mechanic would certainly need to be confirmed if Felrick's and his own plans were to hold any opportunity of coming to fruition.

Felrick gathered Poki and Aster near the dungeon entrance while the rest of the online guild members spectated with exhilarating excitement. Perception of time slowed as the spoils of their united goal hovered tantalizingly within their vision, but not yet within their grasp.

"Okay, we're ready for attempt number one. Dispel the ward, and then spawn another when the game clock reaches [13:27:00] Felrick announced loudly enough to be audible for everyone.

 _Clock: [13:25:49]_

Felrick entered into the Dungeon entrance with the raid group screen visible on his console while Poki Poki followed behind. Aster practically danced his way to the entrance but halted himself just outside, instead favoring to delay his entry.

Felrick had a _deep_ distrust of the game chat that Aster also shared. Some believed it to be overly eccentric, but Aster could argue that the distrust was within reason considering both of their relationships with the game and their often blatant disregard for the terms of service and fair use policies.

Paranoia can hone a formidable strength forcing one to stay a step ahead of the consequences of failure, but the duality of its very nature cement that paranoia as a double edge sword. Mental fatigue builds as the game of cat and mouse continues to crush you under the pressure of the eventuality of failure. It was for this reason that Felrick had already initiated a communication channel between Poki Poki, Aster, and lastly Kashka which wasn't integral to mission success, but was allowed to join nonetheless.

 _"I wish one of my closest online friends held a better opinion of my wife… with effort, I'm sure I can get him to see the abundant value in her...somehow... Perhaps that would be better left for a more appropriate time though."_

Felrick saw Kashka as baggage tied to Aster, which in the end was acceptable to him. He wouldn't willingly even let her into his com's channel without Aster present. _"What is so wrong with wanting to show people the value of my greatest treasure?"_

 _Clock: [13:26:36]_

All moved and gathered closer, outside a portal scantily hidden on the exterior of the boulder.

It seemed the trio was preparing to start. They stood nearly ready to capture their decisive moment.

Kashka's voice cut through the tension wishing her comrades good luck as the clock struck [13:27:00] springing the team into action.

Aster spammed to join the Instance with an inhuman speed and numbers of inputs, meanwhile, Felrick terminated the raid group while Poki Poki _harmoniously_ cast [Ward of Observation]. The raid group's termination forced her and Felrick out of the Dungeon.

Aster disappeared where he had stood at the dungeon's entrance, In his place appeared Felrick and Poki Poki, then Aster reappeared so quickly that it was possible for an observant individual to miss it had they blinked. He glanced down at the string of game text announcing it audibly:

"Invalid Teleport Destination Error: F7z11HT-002 | Send error report? [Yes/No]"

"Dumbass was too _sloooooow_!" said Poki Poki while pointing to Aster. The spectators letting out an internal sigh, their expectations, after all, had not been met.

"I have a timed script to automatically enter the dungeon, I guarantee that _'I'_ was on time," Aster said.

"Ohhh...well... uhh, then let's just try again then," Poki spoke in a more soft tone than before.

Aster looked down mockingly at Poki Poki. A shiver pulsed through her body like a wave crashing into a sandy shore, visible through her fidgety movements.

"Yeah that's what I thought, learned your place didn't you? Little bi—"

"—MMHGHKA! So Poki, you still have Neural Vocalization enabled in-game, you're talking in both"

Felrick looked at Aster shaking his head 'no'.

"I left it that way so I can talk to you and them."

"And if you accidentally say something which gets us flagged by _'Tsunami'_?"

Her body tensed and froze into place, obviously at Felrick's last comment. She nervously lifted her hand to the back of her neck and said: "you make a solid point."

"-And did you remember to cap your frame rate to 1k per second?" Asked Felrick.

"Hmm? ...Oh no, I forgot... let me go skip to that right quick" she said sheepishly.

"She's lucky she's pretty, she'd forget her head of it wasn't attached," Kashka said.

* * *

(POV: Aster)

After several failed attempts of performing the desired 'glitch' later, the group of three stood in front of their guildmates in a stupendous failure so far. The failed expectations of the spectators caused several to make jeering noises. An almost naked stout man with the main class of restoration druid, followed these jeers with a resounding "You guys suck!"

"I wish I could double log so I could do Poki Poki's part too." Aster typed, sending it in chat to his companions.

This comment sparked a stream of 'Poki memes' in the chat. The most repeated was Dekar's infamous "Poki Chokey." She was no match for the harsh reality of the memes. She grew disheartened, only managing to persevere through the sheer focus on her failure. Irritation practically painted on her face even if Yggdrasil's simulation engine couldn't replicate such things.

The disheartened female managed to pull herself together to try again.

"I'll get it. Let's try again- This time for sure!—"

"—you know I'd even take _Kazuma_ over Poki at this point" Felrick stated.

Aster's mind drifted off to the thought of Kazuma. One of the least PvP savvy members of the guild, A Red mage, who in real life had been diagnosed with a high functioning variant of Autism.

Poki Poki who seemed to dwell on Felrick's suggestion, turned around with her arms crossed.

Aster could only assume this signified the start of one of her standard depressed or angry bouts based on his prior knowledge. He secretly hoped if it was one, that it would be anger, for the pure fact it statistically tended to be resolved quicker and easier than the former.

Poki Poki's confidence levels plummeted even lower. It seems asters fears were realized as he silently cursed the gods. Almost as if the heavens sent a messenger to deliver whispers of their presence, Poki Poki was encouraged by her closest friend Kashka, who often was a harsher critic than a motivator, but realizing the mean-spirited jokes at her expense were going a bit too far she said:

"Listen... Forget these _jackasses_. You just need to focus and you'll get it for sure. I believe in you and I mean... you're no dumbass even if you'd like us to think otherwise." the rarity of such encouraging words from her was revered as a blessing to Poki Poki.

Poki Poki now brimming with cheerfulness, visibly overcome by the positivity of the comment. Any negative connotations associated with the comment was likely ignored, she started her personal 'hype ritual' of pumping her fists and confidently chanting quotes from her favorite action protagonists.

"You're such a dork sometimes," Kashka said, then both of the girls giggled amongst themselves.

Kazuma's eyes fixated on the glorious sight of the delighted and ecstatic figure unable to look away. He determined in his heart he would make Poki that happy one day.

Nick was the name of the man controlling the dwarven restoration druid in the toga, he sat on the ground still slinging light-hearted insults at the _'would be'_ bug abusers.

Changing his tactics from insults to more earnest questions to try to break through the many who stopped listening to him, he asked "What makes you guys even come up with a plan like this? What even makes you think it will work?"

Felrick, Aster, Kashka, Poki, and Dekar all seemed to glance to each other quickly without saying anything before they looked away.

"Oh, it's all a _big secret_ hmm? The servers are shutting down today... and you can't tell us?" Nick asked.

Aster knew exactly how Felrick knew so much about Yggdrasil's protocols but his secret was safe within his vault of knowledge- his brain.

Felrick answered with "No... It's really none of your damn business."

The realization of striking a nerve in the normally composed Felrick was a refreshing feeling for Nick. It's an opportunity he didn't get as often as he would like. The only person who could give him more pleasure to irritate was Dekar.

"So Dekar, you don't know about this either? —right?"

Aster knew Nick well, and deduced the comment as a simple jab, probably attempting to provoke an 'interesting' response from his favorite target to single out.

Dekar shrugged his shoulders inside the female Gnome avatar he controlled. His movements were always sharp and concise, a testimony to his experience and mastery.

It had always been a shared opinion among the vast majority of guild members that he should become the guild master. The actual guild master was even of this opinion, but Dekar's time constraints and responsibility to his streaming channel would make it too difficult. Incentivized to play other games for a living rather than _'this'_ game which was now at death's doorstep, Dekar who had first established the guild just couldn't accept the role.

A young male magician garbed from head to foot in an enchanted robe with the in-game name of Kazuma looked to Felrick as if to question him.

"Is this about that _one time_ you duped a bunch of-"

 **"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN, SURELY YOU'RE JUST DUMB!"**

Felrick who had paused his over-enthusiastic shout to emphasize his body language. Flinging his arms overhead in a ridiculous fashion while opening and closing his hands, he hoped to have quelled all further discussion of the matter.

The dreams and hopes of Felrick seemed destined for failure as Nick saw his opportunity.

"Oh yes! All those dupes you-"

Felrick cut Nick off with:

 **"—WOAH-WOAH-WOAH! I THINK-"**

 **"-YOU'RE AN** _ **IDIOT**_ **!"** Nick shouted over Felrick.

Nick's snorts of laughter caused others to join in but quickly died down after looking to felrick who held up both of his hands as if to say "What the hell are we doing?".

Seeing this Dekar clapped his hands together to get the attention of the guild.

"Does anyone else feel like Nick is being especially 'Nickish' today?"

The guild master continued running with Dekar's statement by announcing:

"Let's put it to a vote. All in agreement raise your hand!"

Everyone raised their hand beside Nick who then lifted his hands into the air adopting a surrender pose, looking earnestly to his friends.

"I'm truly sorry... that I gave you all the impression to ever expect anything less - Ha, _stupid Idiots_."

* * *

Chapter 1: Part 3

(POV: Kazuma)

The trio got back to work attempting the glitch again. While they worked, Kazuma walked up to Dekar, and then pulled at his tabard motioning that he wanted to talk somewhere more private.

This action surprised Dekar, evident by the way he stroked his chin as he talked with him. Kazuma wouldn't normally try to talk to Dekar one on one, the same was true in real life as well.

After walking far enough to be out of earshot of the rest of the group, Dekar turned his head and Kazuma glanced in the direction noticing Poki Poki slap her face with both hands.

Kazuma clenched a fist seeing this, then turning his back to the scene so it couldn't distract him further. He let out a pained sigh, he had countless questions floating around inside his head, he didn't even know where to start, but he needed to become serious _here_. If not here then when?

"I… want to get closer to Poki Poki… and I figured I could use advice."

Dekar rotated his head of the small female gnome avatar to the direction of the group, while he did this Kazuma thought back to Dekar's armor he normally wore. The armor which proved his worth and value inside the game, the gear reserved only for World Champion's.

Dekar looked back to him. He lifted his hand up and rested his chin on it for a moment. He seemed to ponder the question, or perhaps was thinking of his response.

"You want to be _closer_ to her?"

Kazuma nodded his head. _Yes_. It was a simple question, _"why would he just ask the same thing back?"_

Dekar seemed to be enjoying himself, he straightened his back, took the hand from his face, and extended a finger. Moments later [Heart] and [Kissing] emoticons began appearing.

"Heh, okay no really, _Poki Poki_ of all people?"

Kazuma's blood began feeling hot beneath his skin and a torrent of complicated emotions bombarded him all at once. He had difficulty suppressing them, barely able to stop himself from outright snapping at the insensitive comment.

"Poki Poki of all people? And what the hell is wrong with her?"

"Well, to start off, she's a pornstar, so your little imaginary romance isn't going to play out the same in reality. You should find a better suit for yourself, it's not worth your time."

"Not worth my time?! -Nothing is wrong with her! I didn't ask you to be an asshole, I asked for tips to get closer to her."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt… again."

"It's not your job to protect me! I guess I'll... I'll - just ask someone else. I figured. Sorry I even bothered asking."

Kazuma turned his back and walked off with heavy steps.

"Wait!"

Kazuma turned back to look back at Dekar not knowing what he wanted.

"-Maybe your hero _Touch-Me_ will give you advice!"

Dumbfounded, He stood there for a moment. It was difficult to suppress and bottle the emotions swelling within him, his grasp on them was only so strong. _"He's intent on belittling everything I believe in. Is his whole reason for life just to piss me off?"_

He started walking backward, still facing Dekar as he slapped his chest producing the "Justice has arrived" Kana to appear in front of him, in clear view for Dekar. He finished the gesture by giving him the double barrel - flicking him off with both hands even waving them around to add in his own artistic flare.

Kazuma turned his back to him again, this time with a "Hmmph!" He Picked up the pace, wanting anything but to continue talking to _that_ man. His blood, still boiling hot, coursed through his veins and the sides of his head pulsed with each beat of his heart.

" **AYY!** -You know why the _pokey chokey_ meme is so popular? She's had more meat in her mouth than hotdog eating champions!"

Kazuma spun around and met Dekars eye with intensity, even taking an aggressive step forward.

" **Shut the fuck up**! No one care's your washed up, and no one gives a damn 'bout your failed awareness group! But you know what?" Kazuma said as he took another step forward. "- We all _loooooove_ talking about how Touch-Me **kicked your ass** in that first tournament."

Dekar stood motionless for a moment and Kazuma used that opportunity to storm off, the eye's of straggling guild members eyeing him curiously as he bailed from the talk.

Dekar kicked off the ground into the air, then traveling a few dozen meters and landing behind Kazuma.

"What was that?"

Kazuma didn't even bother to look back, instead, he continued forward. He wouldn't talk with Dekar anymore. No, he couldn't. The burning sensation in his temples, the heat he was radiating, It would be too much to talk to him.

 _"Whatever gave me the idea to ask him in the first place? Well… I guess It wasn't my first option, but he was good with girls, but why? … It must've been the money and fame, If he didn't have that they'd all surely run off!"_

"Wait! Wait I said! I know you can hear me. Oh yeah, Ignoring me is real mature."

Kazuma felt a fire burning inside his gut, he wanted to turn around and spit it in his face, but he thought of a different idea, this idea seemed more fun and would get to show the guild more of his cousin's true nature.

Kazuma approached the group, they were fairly close now, only steps from joining back with them.

"Nick! Don't you just love how Dekar got his ass kicked by Touch-Me?"

"Do I? It's only like my 2nd favorite memory! Right behind when I beat him at chess! I can remember it like it was just yesterday."

Kazuma could see Nick looking over the mage's shoulder stealing peaks at Dekar who was basically caught up.

Nick took the opportunity to add, "1 win - 0 losses in chess bitch, where's your 1980 elo now?"

Dekar must have been too upset to respond to Nick's claim, never taking his eye's from Kazuma.

"Two can play it that game," Dekar announces as he turns his head to Steve. "Stevie, did you know that I would have shit all over Touch-Me in that first Tournament if I would have used Cognitive Enhancers and leveled the playing field?"

"Dude, I'm not even trying to get involved in... whatever this is, but I do feel you on the enhancement drugs. In the military, they are even mandatory." Steve replied.

"Yeah, that's right. **I would have squatted down and just plopped out a** _ **steamer**_ **on his chest. It's too bad I'm not RELIANT on anything to play, that's because I just GOT GOOD**."

Now finished, he looked over to Kazuma which stomped his foot into the ground and shouted:

 **"Nick, I think Dekar's biggest weakness is his pride. Touch-Me is a real born winner, he'll do whatever it takes to win. That's why he's better."**

"I-Is winning and feats all you care about cousin?" Dekar stammered.

"Maybe if winning and feats didn't come so easy to you, you would treasure them more."

"Poor idiot..."

Kazuma had never wanted more than to kick Dekar upside his fat head. _"Dekar might be one of the most skilled in the PvP warcraft in the game, actually even in most games, but that didn't give him the right to look down on me the way he does!"_

"Dekar, don't you think you're being a bit harsh?" Steve asked tugging on his cloak.

"He's 19 and only makes excuses for himself! he shut's himself off just to play games, and he's not even very good at them! If I don't straighten him out who will?"

 **"What does that have to do with anything?!"** Kazuma shouted.

"Wait... Kazuma is gay?" Nick asked inquisitively.

Everyone except Kazuma shot exasperated looks at Nick as his joke was not well received.

 **"NO!-"** he shouted.

"Nick, where you actually listening or just looking for anything to jump in?" Dekar asked after taking his eyes off Kazuma.

Nick looked up bringing a finger to his chin, he could have been thinking or just stalling, his ability to act was not to be understated. Kazuma often had difficulty differentiating when Nick was serious or joking.

"All I heard was... ermm, 'straighten him out,' what was I supposed to think?"

"Oh yeah - HA! Such a funny guy. Strange no one else finds it funny, ain't it? hmm?" Dekar prodded.

Nick broke into a maddened laughter, unable to contain it anymore.

 **"Heeh-heeh-heeh-heehehe-"**

"-Nick, how high are you?"

"-Heh- _I-Idiot!_ it's ' _Hi, how are you_?'" he choked out as he continued laughing even harder.

Kazuma stared at him with various thoughts swirling through his head... _"How did Dekar distinguish nick was trolling?"_

 _"_ Urgh - I think I'm dying _... phew"_ Nick said wiping nonexistent sweat from his uni-brow before breaking into laughter again.

The laughter was as contagious as a wildfire during a drought. Caught like an affliction Kazuma found himself laughing as well, through his squinted eye's he could even make out Dekar letting out some chuckles to his surprise, however, like time was a remedy for all things, the laughter died down.

"Okay... I'm a little triggered I laughed at that," Dekar admitted with stiff shoulders.

Steve slapped Dekar's back which caused him to look back at him. Steve produced the [Smile Emote], then the [Thumbs Up Emote], and finally sticking his own thumb up.

Dekar was confused whether Steve was making fun of him or just failing spectacularly to cheer him up. Judging by his character he decided that Steve was probably just trying to stop them from fighting. Taking the hint Dekar steeled in himself the resolve to quit. He loved arguing, but there is a time and place for everything. This was not the time.

Dekar walked over and extended a hand to the Red Mage which grudgingly accepted.

"Today feels like it's gunna to be a good day!" Steve said looking to them while clenching his hand out, looking like he wanted a fist bump.

Dekar looked ready to say something, but before he could people heard a hardened cry capturing everyone's attention. They all turned, including Kazuma, and he saw Poki Poki jumping up and down near the Dungeon instance entrance in angelic joy while Felrick was still continuing his battle cry with fists clenched into the air and his eyes to the clouds.

 **"ARGAAAAAAAHAAAGAAAAH!"**

The hearty cry rang throughout the land, so loud Dekar began turning his head curious of the far off surroundings. _"This must be something good, what else could it mean?"_

* * *

(POV: Felrick)

The guild members had caught up and joined with Felrick, Poki Poki, and Kashka.

"What? Progress?"

The group all seemed ecstatic, all shoving against each other to tighten the circle forming around him.

"See for yourself," Felrick said as he nudged the female Mage beside him. " _[Crystal Monitor]_ please."

Poki Poki casted [Crystal Monitor] from the middle of the circle. The screen showing the rival guild's treasury, but more noticeable was the man absent here was now instead doing jumping jacks inside the vault.

"Can they see me boss?" Aster said into the private com's channel.

Felrick leaned in closer to the monitor, he wanted to see what was readily apparent for the taking. They would need to prioritize some items over the less useful ones for phase 2. He saw shelving units attached to the walls that extended up maybe 60 some meters. It appeared this guild had a strict organization method to sort all of their semi-valuables.

"Holy shit! How the hell did he get in there?"

Felrick lifted up a finger to the crowd as his other hand reached for his ear, in his hand he felt the pointed tip push against his demi-gaunts. "Aster, focus on the item's we'll need the most, high tiered consumables, stackables, legendary, divine, or even better yet the _best in slot gear_ for our primary classes.

"Can I turn my public chat on now?" Poki Asked.

Felrick was glad Yggdrasil couldn't replicate facial expressions, for his guild would have seen a shrewd and callous smile born of malice. Adrenaline flowed through him causing him to become restless.

He looked to Poki and he shook his head "no."

"—Whoa, he's looting it! That's right Aster just take it all!"

The Elven figure in the mirror was filling his inventory with stackable items such as gold, materials, and scrolls. He then started looking through the armory for high tiered equipment.

"This is absolutely ludacris."

"So how did he get in?"

"R-PIFTing" Felrick answered.

Confusion rose among their numbers, no one besides those in the private channel, would have been aware of this term after all.

Kashka poked into the air at nothing, but then her eyes darted around to the guild members.

"Random Personal Instance Forced Teleporting, Aster coined it," she said.

"Uhuhmm! I came up with the name," said Felrick

"No! I came up with the name."

The group looked to the speaker, it was the stout toga sporting dwarf. The guildmates didn't even take the time to consider Nick's claim, instead, ignoring it. They turned back to Felrick with more questions.

Kashka bent her knees while standing until her ass was resting on her heels. She whispered quiet threats at Aster into the private channel as she sulked.

"Please - It was a misunderstanding, I told you I helped build the concept, not the name," Aster explained to his wife.

"Someone, please! I'm retarded... So this Random Instance Teleport or whatever, How does it work?"

Felrick imagined a sturdy wall in front of him separating him from his companions. He wished it were real so he could bash his head against it.

"Screw it! How, how, HOW? Seems like you all only care about is knowing how? Fuck mission safety and success, why not all of you just get in the private channel?!"

Felrick wheezed for just a moment, then fell silent.

"Really!?"

"—In Felrick's private channel? It would be an honor!"

Felrick gazed upon the forms of the only people he could possibly consider friends in complete disbelief. Letting out a defeated sigh, he was too tired, At the least, he could wow them with his brilliance, but even that began losing its luster. He had tutored several in the ways of bug abuse in the past, and their ecstatic outlook always felt nice, a far cry from the jealous few who would try degrading him to stooping to such tactics.

Felrick composed a group E-mail to the Guild's mailing list showing the information of the private channel.

 _"I'll need to change the password tomorrow."_

The Coms server began filling up. After every member had joined, Felrick was ready to make his grandiose speech. Before getting his opportunity the man in the vault coughed in an inconspicuous manner.

"Is everything fine?" Felrick asked.

"My inventory is full, we'll need to figure a way out."

Typical teleportation spells did not function normally inside the base of other guilds. It would be stifled, and if they had a custom keystone their teleportation magic would be changed so that the destination would be whatever base's Keystone they were inside (if they had one).

They had an idea that would certainly work, but it did not mean there wasn't a better method, after all, that method is a little taxing on resources and is limited by how many of the item they had available, but in the end they could always go to the Auction House to buy more.

"Well, you can start trying the things on the list we made."

"—understood."

The Elf disappeared off the Crystal Monitor screen like a specter. The Dragonborn Knight pulled up his console and pulled up his tab of offline friends. He followed it down, scanning with his eyes and he scrolled.

"Ah."

Felrick's eyes rested on the name _Sylvarous_ , the username of the Elven 3rd party user, which had disappeared off the screen. As if waiting for him to see the same, it too vanished.

"I'm back."

The voice of Aster sounded to the guild members. Restlessness rose from the party, but after noticing the image of the elf back on the monitor they settled down.

 **"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

Steve was hysterical, his booming laughter cut through the party like a rude awakening.

"You guys got into their treasury and you can't even get out — holy... aahhh," Steve spoke while wiping an invisible tear from his eye. "I've got like 10 people I can't wait to tell."

"Steve—"

The dark-skinned Half-Orc's continued laughter drowned out his words as none from the party could hear it. Annoyed, Felrick navigated to his Com server's options activating one.

The incessant laughter ended in an eerily immediate fashion. Steve had been muted, even if only temporarily. The mute barbarian didn't seem to have noticed as he was slapping his knee and still laughing.

Others began chatting in the channel which served to annoy Felrick even further. Regret sunk into his heart like an anchor into the sea, these idiots would squander the time they had available to complete their mission if he couldn't keep it clean, at least for this portion.

Felrick stared into the words of a command ready to activate it but hesitated like a finger on a trigger.

 _[Mute All]_

Bickering in the call grew melting his doubt like ice flung into the sun.

 _"Silence."_

The server which was full of life just moments ago now was void of all sound.

Felrick breathes an internal sigh of relief as he shut his eyes. Clarity of what he must do dawned on him, but he would take this time to appreciate the absence of their voices for a little longer. Opening his eyes, he saw the people around him looking at him with expectation. Even if he was not the guild master, these people would learn who's _really_ in charge.

"We're a bit short on time, anyone caught wasting the little we have left will receive a mute. Are we clear?"

The entire group nodded signaling understanding, all except Kazuma who stood still. Realizing this, he quickly nodded following the others examples.

A moment later the [Mute] was lifted. The illusion of freedom handed back to the people, as they could talk, despite the reality that now free speech was actually effectively limited with his last statement.

"Alright, well I'm going to try X-logging," Aster said.

X-logging is a term used to describe killing the game process working situationally different than logging out standard. X-logging in a guild base normally caused an individual to arrive at the guild's keystone, however, X-logging back in the old day's after having performed an R-PIFT would place a person back in front of the entrance of the personal instance they used to do the R-PIFT. However, If Aster arrived at their keystone, they'd need to activate the item Aster was holding onto.

Felrick turned his head and established eye contact with Steve. "Bait and switch on my command," said Felrick while giving him a nod. What Felrick means dawns on him and he punches into the air.

"OHHHHH!" Steve said.

He may have not told the barbarian much of the actual plan, but Steve had been incidentally been using this tactic for years.

"I'm ready!" Aster shouted into the chat.

"Good luck!"

Aster again vanished off the screen while the guild members silently awaited his return. The female Gnome walked over to Felrick and smacked the back of his plate leg a couple times with a _'tink tink'_ noise.

"So, I know I'm dying to hear how you got him in there." Dekar said.

As Felrick surveyed the group he saw many nods their head in approval.

"Alright, but only because I'm actually pretty proud of it." He paused for a moment, then continuing with "I noticed some time ago that opening a personal instance within 20 milliseconds of another had once caused people to appear in the wrong dungeon, however because of how personal instances work its uses were very limited. One possibility was to sneak extra members into dungeons to make them easier to complete, but the dev's patched this some time ago."

"Okay, so since that got fixed you just... what, did the same thing but now with the rule changes we can get in?"

"No. Actually, the rule changes were only to open a Personal Instance without having to be there in person. Theoretically, the feat was still possible through different means, but I haven't been able to test it till these rule changes were enacted. This 2 World Level Item combo, one to change the parameters to allow the other, _[Perception of Divinity]_ , to be able to not only show inside closed personal instances with reconnaissance magic, but magic which produced a unit would also inherently open the instance."

"You completely lost me..."

"Simply... okay... we stand in a dungeon Instance, we have the transported ready to enter the dungeon, then we close the Instance after Aster already clicked to join, but we need to give him a new end destination since we closed that one, so we open the treasury room with _[Orb of Observation]_ and the effect of _[Perception of Divinity]_. Assuming all went as planned, and it did, he lands there."

Felrick finished by pointing to the Elf on the _[Crystal Monitor]_.

"Brilliant!—"

"—Genius!?"

Nick claps his hands together to get the attention of the group, they nearly shrugged him off as they already had made up in their mind he wouldn't say anything of value.

"If it were _genius_ , you'd already have a viable escape plan."

The crowd stood almost in awe at Nick's observation. Perhaps he wasn't the idiot everyone credited him to be.

In the moment of pause, Aster logged back in, and the team rushed over to look at the monitor. He was nowhere to be found.

Cheers sounded, but Felrick knew what had actually happened and shouted **"Now Steve! Now!"**

Steve vanished, in his place Aster had appeared. Gasps sounded around Felrick as he could almost hear the gears turning in their feeble heads.

" _These Gacha items would have their use after all, and if they ran out they could always purchase more. The real issue would be If Steve dies and loses 5 levels, the missions second phase would only serve to be more difficult."_

Felrick didn't like the idea of involving one of their strongest members in such a dangerous task, but there was a specific reason he had chosen him for the job. It had all come down to pity, and wanting to see this secretly grieving man contribute to the accomplishment. His decision was not born of logic but emotion, but he hoped that this would not be their downfall. He had another final contingency plan thought out just in case, but it could only be used 3 times, The ultimate gacha item.

Steve was seen walking out the front doors of the base waving an arm as if to say "Hello", much to the surprise of the guild.

"I'm fine, I got out!"

He was walking, this implied the lack of danger he was in.

"So there was no one in the guild's base?"

"Nah, there was someone in there, but after he saw me, I just gave him a high five. The dude didn't look to care, so I just walked out like a boss."

"How... different. Oh well looks like we might be in luck today!"

* * *

(POV: Felrick)

The guild repeated this process of R-PIFTing into treasury vaults and taking everything of value. They escaped cleanly from most guilds, After all, Steve used the gacha item to swap places with Aster in the vault, and after Aster emptied his inventory he could just use the item Steve had to swap places with him again. It was actually a lot easier and more convenient to do it this way. The only problems would be after the vault was fully looted Steve needed to find a way out, or if someone walked into the treasury while they were 'going to town'.

Attempting to leave, Steve got into several skirmishes, but after getting out of the base he used a consumable teleport item that was difficult to block to get away. Regardless of the well-structured plans, Steve managed to die seven times during their excursions.

This would have been a disastrous outcome if Tom had not stored multiple copies of _[Voynich Manuscript]_ in the library, and had they not found a few floating copies in other guild base treasuries. This was another gacha shop item, this one cheating the XP consequences of death a single time each.

They were running low and finally, they were left with a single copy of _[Voynich Manuscript]_. If only the Auction House had some for sale, but none were. This last copy would be used for their final and most dangerous plunder yet, the renown and feared guild base, the very one that had repelled 1500 invaders at once. The ultimate plunder capable of cementing their legacy even if phase 2 failed.

Morale was at an all-time high, the members had never seen such an abundance of treasure, in these past hours they accumulated an absurd collection.

The treasure was exciting, but having several hours to watch it pour in, the luster was starting to fade, but an opportunity to dethrone The Great Tomb of Nazarick from its title as "impenetrable" had reared it's illustrious and beautiful head.

The Great Tomb of Nazarick was known across the 9 worlds, a famous legendary guild. Their Legacy remained untarnished, and that could change in just moments.

Poki Poki opened a [Gate] to the Dungeon entrance so they could attempt the 'glitch' again. Felrick personally had no qualm with this guild, but he knew Aster had upset it in the past, they took something from him, so he took something back. This item was arguably better than what he had lost, but both still held the grudge. A World Level Item for a World Level Item seemed an even trade.

 _"I wonder if the rivalry goes deeper… hmm…"_

"Come on Poki, send me to their Treasury, I'll clean house like I did to the guild 'Mercenary Magicians.'"

"I always forget that you and Felrick were part of 'Three Burning Eyes', what did you expect from robbing the most destructive guild?

"Oh, we got those guy's back and then some."

"Wait - The MM Massacre was you guys!?" Kazuma asked excited.

Felrick tried to remember if Poki Poki had ever overheard a conversation about the Massacre a small sect of "Three Burning Eye's" did some time after they were forced to disband their guild. He looked fondly on that memory. The revenge was absolutely worth the discovery of all the dupes had had stored on his alternate 'mule' account, especially since he had already profited from the items and didn't necessarily need them, besides he still had a mule with duped gold and raw materials for professions had he ever needed them.

"Can we focus on the task in front of us?" Aster said, clearly ready to get into the treasury.

"Right, but I want the juicy details later." Kazuma said.

Aster nodded in understanding, looking even more prideful than before.

 **"Okay in 10 seconds! READY?"**

The abuse team was quiet as mice, the rest of the spectators understood and fell silent. Inside the dungeon was only Poki Poki and Felrick. No countdown was necessary, the game clock could take care of that, especially with how many times they have done the glitch by now. That being said, it didn't stop Felrick from counting down in his own head.

 _"5! 4! 3! 2! 1!"_

"[Ward of Observation]!"

A moment passed, and Felrick saw Aster appear next to the dungeon entrance.

"Jesus, have you ever gotten it on your first try Poki?"

Aster was stomping around, It appeared the man _really_ wanted to get in.

"-Let's just run it again," said Felrick.

"Wait!" Poki Poki exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, let's wait, what has waiting ever got us? All that treasure? Nope - didn't think so." said Aster.

"If you could stop being a _jackass_ for like 10 seconds, I could actually tell you that the ward was blocked. The instance won't open." she announced.

Silence fell upon the guild as the morale of the many, that was so high, faltered at the notion Nazarick would remain impenetrable. The most upset by the events seemed to be Aster, He punched into the stone wall in aggravated strikes. His violence erupting in an inferno of rage.

"Maybe a World Level Item is blocking it," Kazuma said.

Nick walked up to Kazuma and put a hand on his shoulder, he nodded as if he agreed with Kazuma's statement.

"They look depressed because they already realized that, _Idiot_ ," He said.

Nick didn't look hindered by the loss of opportunity that slipped away one bit, in fact, he seemed to revel in it for some reason.

"While it may have been disheartening that something so looked forward to, ended up being so anticlimactic, we still achieved an incredible amount. We can certainly accept this loss and move on." Felrick said.

"You guys look glum, will you look this defeated as we run through the final dungeon?"

People's heads picked up at the mention of this. It seems the fire of desire rekindled in the eyes of the many once more. This band of comrades could accomplish an even greater feat still, the completion of the game.

"Impossible! Even with all our new WLI's, we can't run through the dungeon, find the boss room, and defeat it with... 12, 13–14, 14 people."

"Didn't you all doubt we would loot guild treasuries today?!"

The phrase seemed to have woken up those in disbelief. They looked as if to gauge other's reactions. Without delay, Steve stepped out from the group and faced his peers.

The speaker stomped his foot into the ground making a noise and scanned his eyes over them like a drill sergeant. The tension in the room started to build as even Felrick didn't want to interrupt this moment that Steve created.

"You can become famous but you can't become un-famous. You can become infamous but not un-famous. Let us stand as both the famous and infamous LEGENDS, the ones that did the _impossible_!"

The group reached what Malcolm Gladwell might have called their tipping point. Morale and confidence soared to new heights previously unimaginable. Working to become immortal through history would prove to be even more satisfying than looting Nazarick. Aster, who was by far the most upset by the discovery, was also raring to go. They would all write the story here and now. Today would be there day of ascension. Today they would piss in the face of the gods which created this world. Today they would become God's, even if it was minusculely brief.

"So this will be the ending to our final Chapter!" Tom exclaimed.

Felrick began walking toward the man who had inspired the people better than he himself could have. He gave him a 2 fingered salute to which Steve answered back with his own.

"That was a damn fine speech."

Steve perked up a bit at this comment.

" _That's right, I know how to stroke your ego."_

"I was in charge of new recruits for quite a while you know." Steve replied.

"— well yeah, but it was still a bit more powerful than expected is all —That's a good thing by the way."

Felrick wasn't used to concerning himself with the emotional wellbeing of others. His upbringing and self-protection left these skills quite underdeveloped. If he weren't so damn brilliant, he was sure he would be stepped on by those he needed to win over.

"It was mostly a Dave Chapelle quote believe it or not." He said snickering.

"That comedian you modeled your Avatar after?" asked Felrick honestly interested.

"Oh, well... I modeled my Avatar off a picture I saw on ' ' but where they put Dave's face on this bodybuilders body... it was 'litty in the city'."

"You seem to really appreciate Dave Chapelle."

"—I'm Rick James bitch!"

"Yeah... Not all of them have the same effect Stevie boy."

"That's not to say they still aren't all priceless."

"Ehhmm... Well, Yes. I think I'm gonna go scout for the Boss room with Poki Poki. She'd probably never find it if we don't help."

* * *

[Character Sheets]

#

 **Name: Dekar173**

Level: 100

Karma: 64

HP: 100

MP: 18

Atk: 93

Def: 91

Agility: 99

Sp. Atk: 15

Sp. Def: 94

Sp. Abil: 100

Resist: 95

Total Level: 705

...

World Champion: 5

Exchange of Spirit: 5

Sword Saint: 10

Master of Chaos: 10

Weapon Specialist: 10

Unholy Knight: 15

?

?

#

 **Name: Sylvarous**

Level: 100

Karma: -91

HP: 85

MP: 20

Atk: 81

Def: 69

Agility: 97

Sp. Atk: 7

Sp. Def: 70

Sp. Abil: 86

Resist: 80

Total Level: 595

...

True-shot Barrage : 5

Grand-master Ninja: 5

Mystic Bow Mastery: 5

Projectile Saint: 10

Assassination: 10

Sniper: 10

Rogue: 15

Sharpshooter: 15

Illusionist: 1

Enchanter: 1

?

?

#

* * *

 **[TL:DR Notes Section:]**

This is the first piece of writing I have ever released to the public, It's a bit nerve racking even as I type this. I feel like I was born a storyteller, but I'm such a perfectionist I redraft compulsively, after about 20 or more (probably more) drafts I finally ended with this. I wanted nothing short of my best for you guys.

Also, The more support and recognition I gain, the more motivated I see myself, likely getting you guys content faster. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to read my brain child and read these notes an obsessive content creator wrote. I started working on the idea for this Fanfic's concept on 3/11/2018 at 1:25pm and I'm ecstatic that I'm finally releasing something for it! I'm a plotter and I'd like to think that I have the grand scheme of the whole series already conceptualized.

 **That being said, Leaving a Review and/or Message will be greatly appreciated. I hunger to improve, both the story and my skills. Any help the community would offer would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. I have a full time job, but I want to update as frequently as I can with still retaining the semblance of a life. Please understand if any delays come up.**

 **Update Scheduling:**

 **Overlord: Divine Abstractions - Sorry for delays for Chapter 2. Just Published it, Please Enjoy.**

Notes: Sorry guys, I really wanted to get chapter 2 out to you guys on time, but illness took me out of commission for a week and I've been playing catch up ever since. I'm hoping to get a polished enough product by Monday to push out to you guys! Sorry again, hope you all understand.

 _[Chapter 2 released on: 10/6/2018]_


	2. Chapter 2 - A Wish Unfulfilled

**Chapter 2 - A Wish Unfulfilled**

Chapter 2: Part 1

(POV: Felrick)

Various members of the Guild "Cryptic" were assembled inside the War Room located in their base. It contained a magnificent oversized round table modeled from the tales of Arthurian legend, but also sported many partial maps projected along the walls into a more complete "super" map.

The large whiteboard in the front of the room had physical maps clipped to it. These physical maps were all made using the Cartography profession and among them was a vast assortment of recorded coordinates. The coords were educated guesses of locations the final boss room had the highest probability of being and were split into 2 lists. The first list was of coordinates that still needed to be searched, the latter of the two being already checked coords.

Poki Poki was responsible for checking the locations during her downtime during the treasury raids, leaving few coords left. She now stood, continuously casting [Ward of Observation] to location after location in hopes to find the final boss room. One after another, the locations were checked with no sign of the boss room.

Hours upon hours had been spent searching for the boss room with no luck. Felrick watched her speed through the list as the rest of the members selected points along the projected maps to check next. He compulsively glanced down looking at the timer. It was taking longer than he had expected to come across the boss room. Worry painted over his heart as it beat irregularly quickly.

" _Did we spend too long gathering resources? Could I not see the forest for the trees?"_

Felrick fought down the emotions of despair within himself, giving up hope wasn't exactly his forte. He could accomplish anything as long as he could envision an answer to the problems that arose. If he could see an answer, he could lead this group to do the unthinkable, but he just needed the opportunity. They needed to find the boss room, if not his countless hours of preparation and strategy would be wasted, and 'Gabe the III' will surely skip off into the sunset with that smile, that damn smile he flashes when he thinks he's won.

The Dragonborn Knight now determined to do whatever to see his dream become a reality, walked over to the group feeding Poki Poki coords.

"Poki, We need to go faster, is there nothing you can do to go faster?"

"I'm going as fast as I can, I'm checking a location every 8 seconds."

"If you stack more Haste and cooldown reduction gear… maybe even change your primary glyph, then I'm sure you can go even quicker."

"I have to actually look at the room, and inspect it. It won't do any good to go faster if I miss the door will it?"

"I understand…" Felrick said as he clenched his fist. "Okay then, trade me _[Perception of Divinity]_ back, I'll do it."

Poki's shoulders and head dropped at the command, her face now staring into the floor.

"...kay…" she replied weakly.

Felrick sent the trade request, and although reluctant, she traded over the mentioned item.

Felrick now equipped with the item asked Poki Poki to cast one more _[Ward of Observation]_ so he could copy it with his unique ability _[Replica Virtuoso]_. He only had 25 slots to hold replicated skills, abilities, and spells, but doing it himself would undoubtedly speed up the process.

Besides, he could just overwrite one of the abilities he copied from a guild member who is currently online and could rewrite it again once he was done. If it had been possible to disband a raid group party and cast the ability simultaneously he wouldn't have even needed Poki Poki in the first place.

Felrick wrote a quick macro which would replace the coords he had copied to the next one from his list after pasting it. With this tool now in his repertoire, he scanned through the plate classed gear which had haste and cooldown reduction properties picking out a full set to wear during this endeavor.

Now fully equipped for the job in mere minutes, he activated a silent [Orb of Observation] and a cavern landscape projected into his head. He scanned the surroundings then recast [Orb of Observation]. The macro having changed the coords during the last cast, a new similar yet different cavern surroundings appeared.

Images flooded into his brain one at a time. All his effort and determination pulled into a cold focus. He scanned each environment carefully with clockwork precision, yet still somehow maintained an unbelievable breakneck pace. Each new vision only lasted about 2-3 seconds each before he recast the spell.

Dekar watched as Felrick burned through coordinates faster than even he had expected. He knew well that Felrick was extremely talented, having once been a mentor figure for him in the competitive gaming world, but his skills and drive were on full display putting Poki Poki's effort to shame.

Dekar eyed Poki as she sat on the ground with her back leaned against the wall and her arms wrapped around her legs. Kashka was sitting beside her and they were whispering to each other but it didn't seem to change the magic casters gloomy disposition.

* * *

(POV: Kashka)

"Emmie, remember when my dad got fired from DekaStride corp and I was having a really hard time, but you had this crazy idea that I wanted nothing to do with?" Kashka whispered into Poki Poki's ear.

"Whe-when we spray painted the office buildings?" Poki asked in a lifeless quality.

"When we took back my dad's honor! You helped so I will help you take back your honor."

Poki sat up now more attentive.

"What do you mean?"

"Let's sneak out and spraypaint all over Felrick's treasured trophy box! It'll be like old times when we were in high school."

The idea seemed to connect with Poki Poki, yet she was hesitant to answer. Her eye's kept jumping between Felrick and Kashka until they both started giggling.

They walked out of the room together stringing together emoticons that reflected their devious desire as only Dekar seemed to have even noticed they left.

* * *

(POV: Dekar)

Dekar rotated his head, his glance now falling on Aster and Tom who sat with hunched backs, leaning in close to the whiteboard while they worked. Their seats were a couple of the numerous levitation cushions which were spread through the entire room. Speedily they chose new coords from the maps, adding them to the unchecked list. The list continued growing so Felrick could continue unimpeded until they found exactly what they were looking for.

Dekar was tapping a foot in a tuneful rhythm as he shifted his glance to the clock over the whiteboard.

[22:03:31]

Second by second passed, the deadline was approaching and even with Felrick's pace, there was a good chance that the boss room would stay undiscovered. Every tick of the clock bringing the end of the server closer and with it the chances of Felrick's dream slipping further and further out of reach.

The urgency that Felrick brought to the table when it came to how they conquered their tasks today had greatly surprised him. When it came to the usual guild activities, he executed and strategized well, but it always seemed that his drive and ambition were halfhearted at best. Today he had a mentality to him that reminded him of Felrick's former glory days.

A deep fire of desired burned in his heart. A well of hope to see Felrick at his best sparked this desire. When Felrick was at his best, he was the only worthy rival Dekar had, and their rivalry had always elevated himself. Like steel sharpening steel, Dekar grew from his experiences with this man. A towering wall to overcome. He had so many unique traits that every time he managed to pass him, with just a flash of inspiration Felrick rose back up into the wall before him.

This endless cycle happened rapidly when they had first become teammates and rivals, but after their long separation, the cycle slowed significantly. As even more time passed the cycle trickled off from occasional to hardly ever. The desire that had once burned as bright as the sun inside his rival was a ghost of its former glory. He still had sparks of greatness from time to time, but now he was a shell of the man he had once known.

The cause for this could be chalked up to several different reasons, but because Felrick hardly ever spoke of these personal matters with him he could only guess as to why. It could have been the controversy that caused Felrick to retire his pro career. It could have also been the alienation from his family after his retirement, or perhaps overuse of Cognitive Enhancers causing long-term mental fatigue. The possibilities that could have caused his fiery desire for improvement to dwindle were numerous, but what really mattered was right now. At this moment, Dekar could see it, the desire that had been lost exploded and consumed Felrick again. The single-minded pursuit of a goal moved Dekar's heart as he saw it.

His hands began to tremble with excitement. Maybe he was an idiot and instinct truly ruled him, but nothing could have made Dekar happier. His competitive engine revved when confronted with worthy rivals, and the greatest rival he ever had just reappeared. What could possibly have been better than this?

Strings of thoughts swirled through Dekar's head as he stood. His body felt like it was undergoing hot flashes.

 _"Perhaps Nick is right, and I am just a simple idiot. A true rivalry has always been what I want. If I think about it this way, Cognitive Enhancers are a blessing as I can sharpen myself against the best versions of the best… But in the end, reality is too cruel. Dependency is a weakness, and weakness is to be overcome."_

"Dekar, are you alright?"

Woken from his trance with a jump, Dekar turned and stared at Steve who had managed to sneak behind him.

"I'm all sunshine and sparkles like your head." Dekar poked.

Steve rubbed his own bald Avatar's head while looking right at him. Steve produced the [Thumbs Up] Emote and Dekar did the same. They laughed for a moment. Dekar felt like Steve's laughter was extra enthusiastic, almost forced.

Well, how could it not be? _"I'm sure that the incident is still fairly fresh to him. He'd probably need some time before he's at his best again."_

Dekar would need to liven that man's spirits, after all, Steve believes a true man hides dark emotions from others… He could benefit from some laughs.

Dekar poked at Steve's forehead and could tell it was annoying him. Steve turned around to avoid it but Dekar wouldn't miss his chance. The Gnome body jumped up; the avatar's legs wrapping around Steve's abdomen and his hands rubbing the shiny dome that was his head.

The barbarian fought to get the Gnome off him, but unable to fight him off Dekar continued rubbing the bald man's head with remarks like "Lucky Lucky!" and "I'm raising our Karma totals."

Felrick gasped loudly drawing attention from the others in the room, the only one that didn't drop what they were doing was Dekar as he happily rubbed away at the naked head before him.

"Everyone! I believe I've found it!" Felrick Shouted.

* * *

(POV: Dekar)

A magnificent set of large doors with carvings on it is seen on a cavern wall. The vision on the Crystal Monitor was shown clearly to all that gathered around it. Felrick had already given Poki Poki back _[Perception of Divinity]_ and she had already attempted to ping inside with an observation ward, however, was met with the game message _"A mysterious force stops your magic from casting."_

"Well, I guess we can assume it is the boss room. Maybe there's something inside it that negates world level items." Dekar said.

"Maybe... the boss has world level items." Aster said.

The group looked to him and pictured the grim thought in their mind. If the boss was stacked with world level items or had a world level item to negate others, it will be very hard to combat considering we are heavily dependent on them as a makeshift legion.

"The final dungeon itself was near unexplorable without large numbers of single targeted attack massers, and still everyone got shut down when enough world level enemies converged on their location… the boss, after all, will surely be worse." Felrick said.

"Well at least there isn't a world level enemy close to the door," Dekar said.

"I wonder how this door opens…" Kashka asked while eyeing the monitor.

Kashka begins pacing back and forth in place fidgeting at her lip with a hand.

"Tom, you have specialized linguistic professions, right? Can you make out anything from the door?" She asked.

"Let me just… zoom...zoom in… more… and- this looks like the dammoscript from that one Asgard dungeon. There's no public decryption of the text and I don't have or know anyone with the talent to read it," Tom stated.

"Damn… at the very least there doesn't appear to be any keyholes or complex contraptions needed to open the doors, in that sense we're lucky because we are woefully behind schedule." Felrick said.

* * *

Chapter 2: Part 2

(POV: Felrick)

Felrick had everyone now take a seat so they could discuss their battle formations, delegated specific roles to people, and also had Nick show off what he'd been working on, a master inventory list documenting their stores of items.

"I'm going to need to go pick up a few things still for preparation, but in the meantime, you all should look over this list and gear yourself according to your roles. Nick and Aster, make sure they don't use any of the Healer set's for the special mercenary NPCs."

The guild war room bustled with activity as the members crowded around the list in a discussion. Felrick turned his back to them and activated his [Eternal Portkey] to arrive at the entrance of the auction house. Two magnificent stone arms protruded from the ground, one on each side of the walkway. The arms stretched up and the hands laid flat side by side holding a stack of giant gold pieces.

The walkway was still crowded as many people walked in and out of the building. Felrick jogged along the path avoiding people having to stop and sidestep pedestrians quickly to continue. As he got closer to the Auctioneer NPCs, people were standing shoulder to shoulder and he made an effort to squeeze through small openings between people to get to one.

Felrick had reached an NPC and a console window popped up after interacting with it. He searched the auctions for revival items, healing items, mana restoration items, and whatever was 'Best in Slot' for useful consumables and gear on the auction house.

With little time left, all the auctions were bought up with the "buy it now" price instead of leaving a bid. It seemed that with time winding down, several people sold off their items cheaply as a means to relinquish the items of their own accord rather than never being able to see them because of their inability to log back in.

After he felt confident he had picked through the available items and got what they would need, Felrick darted out of the Auction Hall with haste. He followed the path he used to get in except hustling along the opposite side of the walkway to obey the understood foot traffic norms.

Now that they had the items and gear they would need for the raid, the last piece was to fill up the raid group. They would need to max out the capacity of 36 players. This would raise their probability of winning to the highest possible chances. He didn't trust many people, but regardless he had chosen to contact some acquaintances a few days prior to let them know they would be gunning for the Final Boss on their last day in an attempt to campaign for additional manpower and assistance.

Most people would have shrugged the statement off as just fantasmal dreams, but the former members of "Three Burning Eye's" knew better than to underestimate Felrick. He somehow always managed to pull off truly ridiculous ideas, and as such was dubbed "Man of Miracles."

Felrick opened up his Chat Interface and made a group chat with the 3 people who had responded in affirmative to the summons for the raid recruitment. After shooting them a message, Felrick walked to one of the many mailboxes outside the Auction House and sent all the purchased items 1 by 1 into the guild treasury with a tap each.

"I'm surprised they never implemented a highlight all feature so that this wouldn't be so time-consuming…"

* * *

(POV: Felrick)

A message alert pinged and Felrick saw the group chat had a response. There were only two more items to send to the treasury and then he could check their response. After sending away the final item, he took a deep breath and sighed. He felt his focus slipping and the smallest amount of fog seemed to bog down his mind.

" _Now's not the time to replenish, I'll need to have the strongest effects when we go into battle, so I'll just wait a while longer…"_

Felrick then read and replied to the group chat with the message "Sounds good, I'll be at the 'Gates of Trinity' in 15 minutes, I have some stops along the way."

Felrick then activated a master teleport scroll from his inventory and pasted the desired coords in. He arrived outside a guild base and moved to the registrar box to pick up the already rented mercenary NPC's. The sum of money to rent top class mercenary NPC's could make an average player's eyes pop out in a cartoonish fashion.

A top class mercenary NPC could fetch as much as a Divine Relic even stripped clean of equipment and items. Normally, Mercenary NPC's didn't come with items as if they died, the items would be left behind, thus the renters were typically responsible for gearing them.

This situation was no different.

Felrick picked up the rented NPC's and brought them back to the guild base with his guild ring. Afterward, he went to location after location to pick up all the rented NPC's he had picked out meticulously having already pre-rented in advance. After another 10 minutes passed, Felrick only had one more location to go - The base of Trinity.

His former guildmates all either scattered or quit, but one was a high ranking official in Trinity now, and several more had joined that guild as well. He appeared in front of the Gate's of Trinity and noticed 3 individuals lined up next to the gate.

"Yo - long time no see Man of Miracles."

" **Ayyyyeee!** How are you all doing?" Felrick boomed.

"Doing well considering we get to participate in another one of your loony schemes."

The other two nodded their heads in agreement.

The shortest man among them vanished and returned with 6 NPC's, all healers. Trinity was the best guild at tailor building the highest level Healer Mercenary NPC's. The programmed settings and combat behavior were more sophisticated than any counterparts and they had a World Level Item which provides a created Mercenary with a bonus passive ability upon creation.

They simply re-made the NPC over and over until they received the ability [Windspeaker's Blessing] which provided a shield for half the value of heals along with immunity to basic crowd control for 2 seconds after the shield breaks.

It was one of the most broken passive abilities in the game for the healer class, and could only be achieved by Healers with the _[World Renaissance]_ class, a highly exclusive class for healers similar to that of World Champion, and World Disaster.

The amount of time it took to create these 6 healers, who all had this ability, took years. The chance of it happening was so abysmally low that winning the lottery in real life had similar statistical probability. The difference being that each attempt was free, and their guild had so many people that it was only eventual they would have hit the jackpot so many times.

Unlike passive abilities for the World Disaster and World Champion class, this ability was the most useful for mercenary NPCs, so all the other Mercenary NPCs with favorable abilities were often sold off to the highest bidder.

There was a limit to how many Mercenary NPCs could be out on loan at once, so once you have a very strong pool, selling off the others was only common sense.

"Well, here's the Healers. I think this is only the 3rd time all 6 have been rented out to the same people simultaneously."

"What you're not sticking around Sensenju?"

"I've gotta squeeze out a deuce. I'll be right back."

"You take like 30 minutes every time, you'll just meet up with us later, we don't have time to wait on you right Felrick?"

"Yeah, He can meet up after we are about to enter the dungeon."

"Great, thank god," Sessenju said.

The shortest man vanished and the remaining 3 men started cracking jokes at the vanished man's expense.

Felrick laughed heartily at a statement from Ragnarr and sent them the invite to the private com's server over Email. They got into the channel and Felrick used a [Gate] scroll to teleport outside his guild base.

The group leaped through the gate popping out in front of the Cryptic base. They walked to meet up with everyone so they could have a group meeting before jumping into the dungeon.

"Your still as paranoid as ever I see," Ragnarr said.

"I'm the only one whose main account isn't banned out of all of us."

"True…" Ragnarr grumbled.

This man, who was in a great position of power in Trinity while also being the tallest of the 3 walking together was named Ragnarr. He was an Undead Overlord General who often used the [Perfect Warrior] spell after summoning familiars. It was unlikely his playstyle changed, and Felrick assessed that he would be the greatest help of the three recruits in the final battle to come.

As they walked they chatted about their past and what they had been doing recently. The discussion turned towards reminiscing about Felrick's and Three Burning Eyes' past achievements leading to the event that any hardcore Yggdrasil player would have heard of.

"HAWHAWHAWHAW- heeeh, yeah. I think that might be my favorite memory of the whole game." the other Trinity member said.

"Me too! The Mercenary Magician Massacre felt so damn good. Even if I wasn't part of the Duplication glitch squad, being able to crush them by suicide nuking the guild base with endless copies of _[Solitary Rapture]_ and never letting them leave their spawn was AWESOME." Ragnarr said.

 _(Notes:_ _[Solitary Rapture]_ _is a World Level Item that was a one time use. It called down a meteor which crashed into a large location that guaranteed death of everyone inside the location if they didn't have an ability to block the hit, or if they had a passive skill such as_ _[Last Wind]_ _which activated if an attack would kill you from over 2hp and would leave you at 1hp instead.)_

"Oh, and we can't forget about the cries from them on the messageboards. I still have a screenshot saved. How dare them lead the alliance and force our disbandment, I only wish I could have seen their faces in person when they were slapping the keys ranting about it. Plus, all the ones we killed twice lost their World Disaster class… Well, at least until the servers were rolled back by the shitty Devs, but hey -We gave them one hell of a scare and an even worse beating. That oughta taught 'em for leading the alliance, hehe."

"I could have done without the perm ban though. I even had to exchange my terminal just to play again. Still worth it of course though."Ragnarr said.

"You could have simply spoofed your hardware serial numbers to evade the ban, no need to get a new terminal," Felrick said.

"Heh, so that's what you did eh? Yeah, I don't know about all that and I didn't think I'd ever need to, I just like gaming after all."

"Well knowing your options is still nice," Felrick said.

"True. changing out my terminal was a headache, but like I said it was worth it. Accepting the responsibility of your actions is a part of becoming an adult right? I guess in that right I might even have you beat, eh Felrick?"

"I believe there to be a significant difference in accepting responsibility for actions and ignoring potential solutions."

"Yeah, sounds like something you'd say. Well, just lead the way for us and let's do something amazing tonight. Yeah?"

* * *

Chapter 2: Part 3

(POV: Felrick)

"Alright, now that introductions are finished, here is our Raid group minus one. Get everything together, gear the NPC's, and let's head out." Felrick announced.

He rationed out the additional gear and consumables, helped fill the NPCs' inventories with consumables, and Aster and Felrick went into their programmed settings to change their tendency to use consumables from the standard 25% to now 98%.

They would use items nearly every chance they got. Items such as revival items, healing items, mana gems, enhancements and enchantment scrolls, ext…

Poki Poki opened a [Gate] portal and everyone lined up to enter. People and NPC's alike filed into the portal in an organized manner meeting each other on the other side. Felrick stood alone now staring into the swirling vortex that would take him to the last destination before the final dungeon.

Staring at the portal felt hypnotic and nostalgic. Even if he didn't like admitting it, he knew admitting to himself the pain that leaving this world behind would bring him was the healthy alternative of ignoring it and pretending.

The latter might be easier in the short term, but lying to yourself always had a price.

Felrick felt a tear run down his cheek, but after lifting his hand to pat his face he realized there was no moisture.

 _"Look at me, I'm a mess. I have to pull myself together so I can lead everyone… phew… calm…"_

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. The item around Felrick's wrist was beeping continuously until he silenced it with a tap.

"Seem's I'm finally out of time… So be it! We'll do it! We'll finish the game. I'll show Gabe the error of underestimating me. I'll hit him where it hurts, the pride of his invention, **HA!** "

He shook his head to regain his composure and focus, now looking back into the portal and jumped.

* * *

(POV: Dekar)

The entire raid group was all together. All 36 occupants were in the familiar desolate surroundings, The surroundings next to the insignificant dungeon entrance they would use to glitch into the final dungeon. The extra men were a bit confused as to why "here" but they waited patiently while the rest of the party seemed to enjoy being on the "Inside" of the meme this time around.

Felrick stepped forward and turned around facing the participants with the same stern look his Avatar had always worn.

"Everyone! This is the last break any of you will have until we enter the dungeon. If you need to take any Cognitive Enhancements or have anything that needs to be taken care of we will wait for 5 minutes. The clock starts… **now!** "

Members vanished among them.

Some of the members that logged out consisted of Aster, Kazuma, Poki Poki, Nick, Felrick, Kashka, Aster, etc…

Dekar after watching many people log out looked to Steve.

"What the hell is Nick doing? He doesn't even take Cognitive Enhancers! I guarantee he is hitting the bong right now." Dekar said.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Steve replied.

The fire inside his heart burned. Nick could very well cause the mission to fail. If that happens theirs a good chance of Felrick returning back to his inglorious and uninspired days. Dekar had finally seen life in his rival and it would be unacceptable if Nick ruined it with his idiocy.

Under normal conditions he would have been upset that so many of his companions were avid Adderxen B-22 consumers, and that Felrick had an even stronger concoction having access to the pharmaceutical industry through family ties. The world adopted an acceptance toward cognitive enhancement prescriptions after China made them mandatory for the working class during operational hours.

The explosion in productivity caused other national powers to dwindle by comparison. This event caused a revolution to create a basic Neuro-enhancement prescription which was affordable for the masses while still highly effective. The product which filled this demand was named Adderxen B-22.

The overuse of cognitive enhancements caused a great deal of damage to society until prescriptions were fine-tuned based on the individual and tolerance levels. Blood screening with handheld meters helped monitor that people stay within standardized ranges, but in the end, there is no escape to the eventual decomposition of mental fortitude over time.

Competitive pro careers are incredibly short in comparison to what they had once been. People often burn the candle at both ends causing a short productive burst of competitive brilliance ending in their eventual breakdown and ended career.

Such is the existence of professional sports and Esports today. A tragic whisper of its old greatness, with new talent peaking too quickly and ending even faster.

Conglomerate sponsor's love it because superstar's come and go and the scene always stays fresh with talent. They can afford to extort the masses.

"Steve… They all know that in the long run they are destroying themselves for more results today. Have we as a species lost our ability to be patient? To persevere?"

Steve looked at Dekar then quickly turned his shoulder away towards the remainder of people online.

"I believe that it was a necessary Evil. Look at Kazuma, could he even function normally without his prescription?" Steve asked honestly.

"Okay, so he has a more legitimate claim to it than most, but I can't help but think we would be better off without it."

"Who knows…" Steve said quietly.

Felrick reappeared quickly before anyone else, causing Dekar to rush over and deliver his objection.

"Nick will not be fit to carry out the Mission. He logged out with everyone else and is no doubt getting high. I recommend we find a replacement."

"We don't have time for a replacement. Besides, Nick always plays baked. His high tolerance makes it difficult to hinder his performance too much."

"I personally think we should exclude him on principal alone. What is one more mercenary NPC after all?"

Felrick looked like he was thinking of the situation when Nick appeared back online.

Dekar stomped over to him shouting "Dumbass Nick, you hit the bong didn't you?"

"Let's all for a second sing the bong song."

"It's not funny idiot! Your irresponsibility is jeopardizing the mission."

"Really? Says who, you? Dinka-ass Dekar who can't even win a chess game versus a novice?"

"This! Look Felrick, this is what I was talking about. He's a glaring risk we can't afford to take. Who knows what'll happen if we bring him along."

"Who knows? I know." Nick said.

"Yeah? And what do you know?" Dekar asked as a hand moved to a his hip.

"That you're an-nnn **_IDIOT_** \- **HA!** You can't set me up for those!"

Silence fell after Nick's comment. Felrick put a hand on each of their shoulders as he stood between them.

"Seems like the same old Nick to me. We need to focus on the mission. Nick, Dekar, both of you need to pull yourselves together. We have to run into the dungeon like a well-oiled machine."

"Okay got it. I'll drop it." Dekar said.

Afterward, the final preparations like enhancements, chants, blessings, consumables, etc… were cast to buff the group and put themselves into their strongest base position while still having nearly all of their resources. Any mana expended was restored instantly with consumables to enter the dungeon in the freshest most adaptable state.

If they were wiped out during the raid then it was unlikely they could ever win because of the lack of time and resources to make another attempt. No amount of preparation and insight could be too much, the success of the collective depended heavily on the preparation before the boss, and execution during the Boss fight. If they would fail in either certainly their hopes would be crushed, and their goal would remain unfulfilled.

"Hey, Dekar I thought you don't like enhancements idiot? -hmm little change of mind, ehhm?"

"Not now Nick, I'm fighting not to strangle you."

"I feel you, I usually hit the bong so I don't strangle myself."

Dekar clenched a fist as he walked away. The heat in his temples began cooling as the distance between him and nick grew. Dekar was in group 2 of the formation and Nick stood in group 1.

For right now, neither of them needed to talk to each other. Dekar knew this as he broke away into his group.

"Poki Poki, let's see inside so we know what we're about to get into!" Felrick shouts.

Poki Poki used [Ward of Observation] along with [Crystal Monitor] to show the view of the dungeon room. There was a very large world level enemy in the room, but after discussion, they decide it's far enough from the door that they could make a run for it.

"What if the door is only able to be opened after defeating it… or perhaps even more of them, what if we need some sort of key?"

"The door doesn't appear to have any keyholes, but even if we need something, we can always turn on the sub-boss if we can't get in. This world level enemy seems very powerful and we need to conserve as many resources as we can for the boss room. If not…"

The rest understood what he meant, the surroundings became quiet for a moment as the gravity of importance weighed down their minds.

Tom skittered over to Felrick and whispered something in his ear. Felrick seemed to nod and Tom made a nod notion back then ran back to the 2nd group.

 **"Everyone, Dekar will say a few words before we enter the dungeon. Dekar?"** Felrick said while nodding at him.

The Gnome Soldier waddled over next to Felrick and took a deep breath.

 **"First I'd like to propose a group activity. Steve, can you step forward?"**

The Barbarian took a step forward with pride, even stopping to flex his arms in front of the crowd.

 **"I'd like to state that Steve's head is bewitched and grants wishes. Instantly after rubbing his head, Felrick found the final boss room. Our collective wish is to beat this game, and If we all rub his head I'm sure it will come true."**

Steve stammered to protest against it, but people rushed in droves, pushing forward to rub the bewitched shiny dome. Steve didn't seem to be used to this kind of attention even pretending not to relish in it, but his emotions were far too transparent to be hidden.

After each and everyone rubbed his head, even Felrick, they stepped back into formations.

 **"Everyone, close your eyes for a moment and focus on my voice. We are a team capable of winning, forget any doubts and paint a picture of the victory in your head. We are victors together, so you are a victor! Believe in our potential, and use your imagination to reach your goals." Dekar shouted.**

A small silence swept over the people as they each interpreted the words.

Steve started clapping and a round of applause sounded along with roars of the people filled with determination and excitement. He then made his way next to Dekar so that he could say his piece.

"After the door opens the mission cannot stop, and more importantly cannot **FAIL**! We have one opportunity to grasp our dreams, **WHO IS READY!?** " Steve asked.

The players among the crowd rose their weapons into the air and shouted their thunderous and unanimous battle cries full of conviction.

"Alright, then let's do this!"

Felrick, Aster, and Poki Poki broke formations walking over to the dungeon entrance. Ragnarr who was also in group 2 nudged Dekar. When Dekar looked to him the man produced a "?" emote. Understanding the confusion Dekar chuckled and responded with "Just wait and see. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it."

They miss-performed the glitch the first attempt and all landed outside the dungeon entrance again. Quickly without any words, they jumped into attempt 2 as the newcomers speculated on what was going on.

Poki Poki and Felrick landed outside the entrance again. Poki opened a [Gate] to Aster's coordinates and Felrick shout's " **ALL IN!** Let's go, let's go, **LET'S GO!** "

The Extra men heavily impressed by the feat but equally confused ran still inside their formations into the portal alongside the many Cryptic members and NPCs.

The Titanic world level enemy took notice of them immediately as if walking into the room caused an alarm. The Draconic Titan slammed its arms into the ground creating a pillar of solid minerals rising from where they had been standing.

" **Split and regroup!"**

The team quickly divided into mini groups breaking into sprints in an attempt to sidestep the rising pillars of minerals. Many even using low-cost mobility spells to expedite the process rushed forward toward the wall with the set of doors attached to it.

Dekar cast his [Frost Chains] which stabbed into the terrain allowing him to jump and pull himself along the chains. This strategy caused Dekar to reach the door first, followed by Aster who arrived just in front of a cluster and ran up the smooth wall completely perpendicular to the ground with ease landing on the platform for the doorway.

He had been a help distracting the enemy with his wild patterns of movement so that the slower people could catch up. Aster was after all the fastest pure ground unit in the group besides several of the guild's mounts.

This dungeon disallowed mounts from being ridden following the understood norm of typical dungeon instances.

Dekar pulled and pushed on the doors thrashing at it. The massive doors started some 10 meters up the wall and extended well over 100 meters up. Dekar who climbed up to the door leveraged all the strength he could muster, yet the door refused to budge.

The doors that stood seemed immovable and the rest of the members started to come to the same conclusion watching Dekar.

" **Fuck it won't budge!"**

Carvings and depictions of Ancient magic casters filled the door along with what appeared to be a modified version of hieroglyphics.

" **We need a new plan!"**

The cavern didn't seem to have a roof or ceiling at all, it seemed to extend endlessly overhead and someone would need to watch that they weren't flanked by air troops.

Tom continued to stare at the door while his companions turned with full attention to the Draconic Titan approaching. Felrick morphed into his dragon form while his weapon also morphed, changing into a gargantuan shield intercepting the fire attack and absorbing the blast.

The Draconic visage affixed to the shield swallowed the spell causing the shield to shine brightly with mystical energy.

" **FELRICK!** Wait, Felrick **STOP!** "

Tom pulled his hand off the door which had been feeling around as he took a step back.

" **-Yeah?** "

"Redirect the blow at the door, I think -"

-Without questioning the man Felrick launched a blast from his shield at the door with such speed it made Tom leap backward. Upon impact, the Hieroglyphs and carvings began shimmering with a blinding yet euphoric white light.

The crack where the doors met followed suit also emitting the same light. The beauty of the door captured Tom's heart. He stood in awe and appreciation as he let a whisper out under his breath. "Ancient… Magick?"

The Draconic Titan, now emitting a high pitched shriek, dropped to 4 legs, pulled back his wings, and charged at them like a bear. The ground quaking underfoot with each new step the creature took.

Poki Poki created a platform which raised them all up to the doors. Half the team shoved and heaved desperately at the doors as the rest took defensive positions looking straight into the eyes of the enemy.

The doors began to swing open of its own accord. Kazuma with eyes closed with focus was still leveraging his weight and strength into the swinging door, pushing with all the might he could muster.

Nick slapped his shoulder springing him back to the moment while pointing to the other door opening itself without further assistance.

"Heh! Idiot."

The Titan kicked off the ground, spreading its majestic wings, and with each flap got closer and closer to the open doorway.

" **Quickly!** all through, **it's still coming!** "

They all managed to step through but the Titanic beast was continuing its charge at an even more breakneck pace with no sign of slowing down.

"That bitch is still coming! We can't close the doors, **EVERYONE, BRACE FOR IMPACT!** "

The tanks of the groups stepped forward to intercept the titan with steeled wills. The creature just seconds shy from bursting through the doorway, perhaps only a single flap of its wings from them.

"Till impact - 3..2..1!"

The Titanic beast crashed into some sort of invisible barrier denying entry through the wide-open doorway, the impact causing it to fall to the ground beneath with a loud and ambient crash.

"Wow… holy… my heartbeat is a little higher now."

"-Not nearly as high as me," Nick said.

"Intense! We managed to avoid fighting it… somehow. Yes! Lucky, lucky!"

"Positions! Positions!" shouted Felrick.

The group spread into two wedge battle formations while surveying the surroundings. The room was only slightly taller than the doors, but unlike the many of the other rooms, this room had a ceiling. Despite this, the room was still wide and expansive.

At the far end of the room, they noticed a tall throne extending over 50 meters into the sky. Sitting atop it was a figure obfuscated from the mix of light and darkness inside the room.

The walls and floor seemed to be made of a black crystalline structure. Leading up to the throne was a path illuminated with blue light being projected from the floor, and along that path walked a humanoid toward the throne at a brisk pace.

The group went to step forward but they were stopped after the figure that sat atop the throne lifted a hand producing a force field of some sort to be erected, preventing them from getting in.

"How do we get past the force field?"

"Someone try a _[Gate]_!"

"It's - It's not working damnit!"

Felrick focused majoritively on gathering intelligence, anything that would give them a competitive edge in the fight. They would surely need it.

Large rows of dusty and dirty mirrors affixed to the walls seemed suspicious. He made a mental note they likely had something to do with the fight to ensue. "I need more. Focus!"

Channeling now all his effort into surveying the surroundings, Felrick froze and ceased commanding the team.

Tom eyed Felrick gawking at the surroundings spurring him to take command until Felrick was fit to continue.

" _[Scan]_ the two, gather as much Intel as you can, what do you see?"

"[Perfect Scan] uhmmhh… The figure in the Throne's name is **'Avatar of Creation and Cataclysm'** but the rest of the data isn't registering, in fact, all the values are registering as question marks."

"-Any flavor text?"

"No! question marks as well!"

"What about the other one?" Tom asked pointing to the humanoid walking up the illuminated path.

The humanoid appeared to be a white-haired female garbed in gear specialized for the ninja or assassin class. Her equipped items all seemed to be top class, excluding a dull and dreary necklace of the two hanging from her neck.

Felrick continued staring past the barrier, his eyes affixed to a single point, the humanoid approaching the throne. Mesmerized by his former memories his eyes wouldn't look away no matter how many times he tried, even internalizing the meaninglessness behind the action.

"Mina Tashiro…" Felrick uttered beneath his breath.

"Just a moment- Yes this one worked… Wow."

"Well, what is it? Project it with a _[Crystal Monitor]_ scroll please."

"[Crystal Monitor]!"

Mina Van Hiem Tashiro - Level 100 - Human.

Karma: -105

HP: 200

MP: 67

Phy. Atk.: 200

Phy. Def: 35

Agility: 200

Mag. Atk. 94

Mag. Def. 72

Resist: 100

Special: 100

Total: 1068

'An estranged wanderer destined to lose more than she finds.'

"Over 1k total level?!" someone asked in a gasp.

"-Look at her defense, we must have to protect her, she's likely the key to winning."

" **Felrick! Orders?"**

"What is… is this a joke?" asked Felrick.

"Hmm?-"

"-What do you mean?"

" **Khaahumphh** , Nevermind, Yes I… **We** need to find a way through the barrier."

The group nodded in agreement, while Felrick nodded to his own statement. This prompted several to try an assortment of spells and abilities to get through. Others broke formation and reached around the walls hoping to find a secret placed to let them pass.

"None of the mirrors along the wall were within the entrance of the room which they were confined in so they likely won't be useful now… hmm…"

The wanderer now nearly at the foot of the throne, lifted her head gazing at the figure atop the throne.

" **That's far enough…"** The figure in the throne projected with a booming voice. Echoes reverberated from the walls in a nearly endless loop of acoustics.

"Have you come to fear what you have created?" the loud female voice taunted through the echoes.

"The figure reached an arm into the air and simultaneously the echoes ceased.

"-What is this? It's going to start without us!" Steve said.

 **"Shh… Listen."** Felrick commanded, his eyes still glued to the scene.

" **Hahahahahah!** It seems you've grown cocky in these 12 years. It must be because of 'that', correct?"

The mysterious Avatar figure made some sort of movement at the woman.

The raid group shot looks at each other in confusion. No other boss room in Yggdrasil had ever functioned in this way. They felt like they were missing something, perhaps something key.

"Cocky and Capable…" She brought a hand to a necklace which appeared to be of lesser quality than the rest of her equipment. **"What of our deal monster?"**

"Hooh!"

The Avatar vanished from the throne and appeared at its feet. As this happened, all the mirrors, which had been just caked in filth, all shot rays forth into clear orbs hanging from the ceiling causing them to glow continuously, bathing the room in light.

The figure now in much better view had several pronounced features. A half white and half black mask covered the face or its lack of. It's cloak fluttering and oozing as if it were between the state of solid and liquid. The figures ghastly aura was being projected into the air and was only intensifying every moment. The air producing a low hum as it became richer with energy.

A scepter made of clear crystal structure, materialized in his hand as he extended it overhead. Specks of black crystals being sucked from the walls, ceiling, and floors accumulated above the staff.

The specks meeting in a vortex above the raised staff producing a black gemstone which started the size of a small coin, but built into a more and more massive form.

Now almost the size of the Avatar itself, the gemstone was whacked by the staff in hand shattering it, causing black reflective shards to fall and rain onto the floor, but another form also fell from it towards the ground...

A lifeless black haired girl seemingly hidden in the center was pulled by what could be concluded as gravity to the hard ground, impacting it with an uncomfortable sounding thump.

The mirrors surrounding the room, now all crystal clear, were all tilted at varying angles allowing the spectacle to be seen much easier and from multiple angles for the restrained guildmates. Painted on several mirrors was the face of the humanoid girl they identified as Mina. Her face scrunched into a hateful snarl while her red irises shone brightly with the flames of rage and hatred.

" **That NPC has facial expressions!"** Dekar said nodding to himself.

"Oh? Good old Dekar-Sama, the observational skills of two human eyeballs." Nick said coyly.

" **What's happening?!"**

"Look, it's like their squaring off - It's like… well, a duel."

The two entities faced each other. Mina taking a stance like she was ready to start at any moment, but without a weapon equipped, or at the least visible. Her hand clenched around the lack-luster silver necklace swinging from her neck. "This scene looks quite odd…"

Both parties seemed to enjoy the game of chicken, waiting for the other to move first. A silence so pure, drowned the room as the pressure in the room escalated, it seemed his sense of hearing might be faulty. An eerie feeling rose from Felrick as he watched the scene unfolding beyond the barrier, the two figures in a stand-off, each in what looked to be a refusal to make the first move.

The Avatar lifted a gloved finger challenging her to approach by pulling it back and forth.

The Invitation answered in mere moments, a shimmering line appeared from beneath her feet and extended towards the Avatar. Her body erupted in lightning as her necklace burst with light which transmogrified into a masterly-crafted Katana. Her body jolted forward with no movement of her legs whatsoever.

The Avatar lifted his scepter sparking a rainbow of colors to stream from it. With a small a regal movement he brought the staff down and tapped the ground causing the earth to quake. The ground to the left and right of the Avatar crumbled and lurched until 2 world level enemies burst from it. With the appearance of new enemies, Mina paused for a moment, likely recalculating her moves as her eyes darted to and from the mirrors in her field of view.

 **"Two world level Enemies and the Final Boss!?"**

 **"Against one single NPC…"**

 **"At the same time?"**

 **"We obviously made a mistake! We were _tooo sloooow_ to enter the room!"**

Common sense dictated that on average, a party with 36 players, all level 100, could take down a world level enemy. The scene produced even more confusion and hesitance from the guild members.

A single NPC could not take down 2 World level enemies simultaneously, especially not while also combating the main Boss which should reign supreme over all other bosses.

The party members looked at each other confused as to what exactly their role here was, and if they could even win.

Felrick felt unease and nausea in the pit of his stomach. All this preparation… and we were too slow to join the Final Battle...

The man transformed into his Dragon form raising his Hammer overhead. He swung it down with all the strength he could muster as he increased the size of his weapon to it's maximum 500%.

The swing carried all his desire, all his passion, all his regret, and all of his soul.

The hammer was caught by the barrier reversing the force and flinging Felrick backward into the door.

Dekar seeing this looked down to his weapon… I could try my trump card… but if I don't have it for the battle I'll be basically useless. The thoughts burning inside his head as he tightened his grip around the hilt of his World Level Item _[Dusk and Dawn]_.

 **"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"** Felrick screamed with ferocity as he jumped into the barrier but then rebounded backward.

Felrick looked down to a finger which wore a special ring named _[Shooting Star]_. It was one of the 3 copies that his guild now held. His only had 2 charges, but the use of one to get them past the barrier would be necessary. They couldn't leave the room through teleportation, and they couldn't walk back through the open doors as a force-field also prevented them from leaving.

The desperation inside Felrick reached critical mass. Felrick activated the ring showing a list of available wishes. He saw the one he wanted more than anything "I wish the Barrier was negated."

A harmonious hum rang out and light streamed from the ring as it attempted to grant the wish.

 _Tink tink tink._ Small stars shot and streamed from the ring glittering in the air until a firm BOOOP noise sounded and all the ring's characteristics returned to normal.

" **...Declined? HOW? WHY?!"**

Felrick thrashed in frustration until finally dropping to his knees like his strings were cut. The sight was disparaging to the group as their proud leader was reduced to a whimpering and blundering idiot.

"Settle down! We need a clear head from you!"

Felrick pulled himself from the ground slowly as he took another stance like he wanted to ram the barrier again.

" **FELRICK!"**

The voice carried sorrow and worry, but it also carried a glimmer of hope.

Felrick snapped from his trance-like state. His desperation, fear, and anger dematerialized as if waking from a nightmare.

" **It's a cinematic!"** Aster shouted as he pointed to the two holes the World level Enemies popped out of. "I don't think we're supposed to be in there yet."

The words causing the group to spread out and crowd the barrier, pressed as close as they could to get the best view.

* * *

[Character Sheets]

#

 **Name: Felrick**

Level: 100

Karma: -61

HP: 75

MP: 51

Atk: 85

Def: 92

Agility: 81

Sp. Atk: 78

Sp. Def: 83

Sp. Abil: 77

Resist: 85

Total Level: 707

...

Replica Virtuoso: 5

Spirit of Ancients: 5

Refined Art - Mana Manipulation: 5

Dragoncraft Saint: 10

Master of Chaos: 10

Weapon Alternator: 10

Dragonborn Knight: 15

Engineer: 3

?

?

#

 **Name: Prince Kazuma**

Level: 100

Karma: 44

HP: 66

MP: 81

Atk: 30

Def: 47

Agility: 56

Sp. Atk: 79

Sp. Def: 77

Sp. Abil: 69

Resist: 75

Total Level: 580

...

Spellque Triple : 5

Resistance Nullifier: 5

Resourceless Casting: 5

Grand-master Magician: 5

Clearcast Flowstate: 5

Arcane Specializer: 10

Spellque Double: 10

Red Mage: 15

Enchanter: 11

Templar: 8

Illusionist: 1

?

?

#

* * *

 **[TL:DR Notes Section:]**

Sorry for the delays everyone. As someone who recently had set out to accomplish my work on schedule, It's quite difficult and something to get used to. I really wanted to finish the Yggdrasil arc with this chapter but I just had too much text and ideas to fit into a single chapter and It became a chore to pull everything together.

Soooo... I split the chapter apart to tackle the lead up to the climax of the first Arc. I can't wait to spoil you all with chapter 3.

 **That being said, Leaving a Review and/or Message will be greatly appreciated. I hunger to improve, both the story and my skills. Any help the community would offer would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. I have a full time job, but I want to update as frequently as I can with still retaining the semblance of a life. Please understand if any delays come up.**

I'd like to personally thank these individuals for leaving a review! Every review is born from effort, and I can't thank the community enough for spending that effort writing to me! _**Thanks everyone.**_

 **USERS:**

Hybreed33

pwashington

Kamen Rider Evol

Demigoosebestboy

monsterhat

solarblaster

SteveTheBeast

 **Special thanks** to _user_ : **Pterodactyl** \- for the outstanding review and engagement. Your effort stood head and shoulders above the rest and know that it was greatly appreciated.

 _[Estimated Chapter 3 release date: 10/20/2018]_

 _(It's possible that I will release early, so keep your eyes peeled.)_


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